Angels and Demons
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: It's a little known fact Serenity Potter was adopted. So when she is summoned into Gaia via the Lifestream, she has no idea what is waiting for her. And why do people keep comparing her to someone named 'Sephiroth?
1. Chapter 1

When James and Sirius broke into the room, having heard from a reliable source that the Death Eaters were planning to use a ritual that involved a true innocent, nothing could have prepared them for the sight of the crying child in the center of the ritual circle.

James carefully cradled the infant, who couldn't be more than a day or two old at best, while Sirius took out all the Death Eaters in the room. Most of them were magically exhausted, so they were barely able to put up a proper fight.

Any thoughts of simply handing her over to a nice wizarding family died the second the child opened their eyes.

They were green, just like his wife Lily's only so much more bright and vibrant. The silvery hair could easily be changed... not only was the coloration far too Slytherin for his tastes (likely why the child had been summoned), but it would make it easier to hide the fact she wasn't his.

A few rituals could fix that, and Lily had been wanting to have kids. Unfortunately the last few months were far too busy for them to really have much interest in that sort of thing.

Sirius looked at the little one in James' arms, then at his brother in all but blood.

"James?" he questioned.

"I'm going to discuss it with Lily," he said quietly.

To no one's surprise, Lily agreed to the idea almost immediately once she saw the little girl.

Their new daughter was named Serenity Banora Potter, and thanks to a few rituals (some of them borderline dark) no one would know she wasn't a Potter by blood. With how good Lily was at charms, everyone assumed she hid the pregnacy to avoid being put higher on Voldemort's list.

Serenity would remain heiress Potter until she came of age...or until Lily bore James a son. In order to further solidify the ruse, Sirius promptly named her _his_ heir as well, since she was technically a Black through James. Since they had tested the rituals via a few _minor_ artifacts that would leave a nasty, but immediate surprise on anyone who wasn't a Black on little Serenity and she had come out unharmed (unlike Lily, but they had known she wasn't a Black and had the counterspells already prepped in case Serenity had a backlash) the goblins didn't raise a fuss.

As far anyone was concerned, Lily had given birth to their daughter roughly fifteen minutes before midnight on July thirty-first, after eight hours of labor through a midwife since they wanted to keep the birth quiet in case someone tried to take out both mother and child.

Everything was filled properly with the right sources, so no one questioned Serenity's existence.

And for a full year, everything seemed perfect. Sure it was difficult adjusting to having a newborn in the house.

Then they learned of the prophecy, though Sirius was the only one to realize Dumbledore was putting them in needless danger...after all, there wasn't any way to know for sure if little Serenity actually _was_ born "as the seventh month dies".

In the end it didn't matter. For whatever reason, Serenity survived the attack by Voldemort at the tender age of fifteen months...and was left orphaned in more ways than one.

She would never know until much later the truth about her origins.

 _Fourteen years later..._

"SIRIUS!"

Rena watched in absolute horror as Sirius fell through the Veil.

The last person to give an actual damn about _her_ opinion and what she wanted to do with HER life, dead because of his insane cousin.

Rena's blood was boiling. It was like her entire body was on fire, and it was made worse the closer to the archway she got. She couldn't hear Bellatrix's insane cackling. She couldn't see the battle around her. All she could feel was the fire.

She couldn't take the raging heat. There was only one thing she could think of doing, and her mind threw caution to the wind.

She _yanked_ on the source of the heat, and felt Life itself flow through her body. Her eyes, once a verdant green began to glow from an internal light.

Inside her body, she could feel something rearranging itself to an unseen template. Muscles became stronger, senses heightened, power flowed into her very core.

Without knowing how or why, she cast her left hand out...and a massive sword appeared. It was long and thin, and looked vaguely Japanese in origin. She wanted to frown...it felt right in her hand, but at the same time it felt vaguely wrong.

Like she was meant to have a sword, just not this one.

However the long sword would do for the moment.

She couldn't really remember what happened after she summoned it to her hand. Just that every Death Eater that came near her ended up very dead in short order, Bellatrix included.

It felt so bloody satisfying that she almost ignored the expression on Dumbledore's face...or the fact that her hair had mysteriously gone from pitch black to a pale silver the color of moonlight.

The pulsing sensation in her body grew stronger, and to the complete shock of everyone left alive in the room, a green mist the same shade as her eyes began pouring out of the Veil of Death.

Most of them wisely fled from it, as there was no telling what it was (outside of being very bad for your health considering it's origin)...except for her.

She glared death at Dumbledore, for his incompetence had allowed this to happen. If he had simply gotten off his ass and _dealt_ with Voldemort or even started taking a proper stand against his forces, then maybe Sirius would be alive.

The mist began to pool around her as a circle began to form underneath.

The last thing Serenity would recall, blood dripping from her new sword was someone crying out her name before she blacked out completely.

 _An undetermined time later..._

Whatever the green pool was, it felt like she was submerged in a massive bush of stinging nettles. However she had been through so much crap in her life that she was able to ignore it in order to get out...but not before her foot foot something smooth and round at the bottom of the pool.

Once she was out properly, she reached in with her right hand and pulled it out. The stinging sensation was unpleasant, but otherwise easy to ignore.

It was a marble? A very strange colored marble, but still a marble of sorts. It almost matched the color of the pool. For some reason she kept getting the feeling of 'healing' from it. Very strange.

Something in the back of her mind said that this was "cure", though she couldn't explain what made her think such a strange thing.

A cure for what, exactly?

It took her several long moments to register certain facts. One, her wand was missing as was the long sword. Strangely she didn't feel all that bad about losing her wand...it had felt _wrong_ in her hand for reasons she couldn't explain all year. Like what had once been an adequate fit was now barely subpar. It only responded out of loyalty and habit. Two, her hair was now slightly longer than she remembered, and for some unfathomable reason, had turned a bright silver that seemed to shine under the sun.

When she found a stream...mostly to wash off the worst of that strange green liquid she had woken up in...she found other changes.

For one thing, she was taller. Her limbs had been stunted from malnutruition and neglect had suddenly become muscled and far more gangly. She had despaired of reaching past five and a half, but now she was bordering six feet, easily. Like she had a sudden _massive_ growth spurt in the span of seconds. More to the point her body had filled out considerably... her bust must have grown at _least_ two cup sizes if not more. It took her several long moments to realize she wasn't wearing her usual glasses, and yet she could see better than she had in her entire life.

Her eyes reminded her of the pool she had left, combined with the general shape of a cat. Or possibly a snake. Her skin, which was naturally pale from living in England her entire life now sported a slight tan, though it was still quite pale.

A quick test revealed her strength had increased to almost the same levels as Hagrid, and her magic thrummed inside her core almost begging to be let loose.

It was all very strange, and she wondered how she was able to analyze all this with such calm detachment. She didn't even care that for some _bizarre_ reason she was completely starkers!

Well, since her magic wanted to be used...

Rena visualized a _really_ cute outfit she had seen once in one of Lavender's muggle fashion magazines, and then aimed her hand at a branch she picked up.

Her magic surged with glee, turning the branch into the dress... and it was her size too. Which was a good thing, because it could have become unspeakably awkward if she had to resize it after making it.

Now the really awkward part...she made a pair of shorts that would hide the fact she wasn't wearing any underwear. The dress she chose had a corset that tightened in the front to take the place of a bra.

A good thing, since she had no idea what her cup size was anymore.

Once she was properly clothed, even if she had no shoes to speak of, she had to decide on what direction to start walking in.

Since she had absolutely no idea where she was or what was going on, she spun around twice before walking in the first direction she was pointed. With any luck she would hit civilization _eventually_.

Rena was very good at lying with a straight face. She had far too much practice.

Considering the monsters she ran into...and disposed of...on the way here, the sob story she came up with that all of her things had been completely ruined save for the clothes on her back and a single 'materia' (which seemed to be a strange focus with a single spell set contained within) was eaten up by the innkeeper's wife.

The fact that the local monsters dropped what appeared to be _currency_ and items she had never seen before was beyond strange, but she wasn't about to question her fortune. She would have had to resort to theft and possibly gambling otherwise.

Not that she wasn't planning to gamble...she would need money to survive and monster hunting got old fast. Not to mention it would only take _one_ bad move and she would be dead.

By now the odd zen state she had been in when she woke up had dissipated. Mostly from the good night's rest she had while sleeping up in the trees. After the number of times she was ambushed, sleeping on a tree branch was only sensible.

She did have to wonder why people kept staring at her though.

At least she was able to leave the small town with some information...and a some new materia and clothes. She wasn't sure if she could summon the sword again, mostly because she had no idea how she summoned it to her in the first place.

She had no bloody idea how to weild a sword, and the one she used before was a beast of a thing. The length alone would give her no end of difficulty! And the Sword of Gryffindor had always felt... clunky...to her.

However she trusted herself with the guns available even less, and the daggers looked even more flimsy than the blades she used for potions. Considering the headaches she had killing the monsters before, she would stick with something that she could reasonably figure out how to use in a short amount of time. Besides, they didn't sell any archery equipment, much to her dismay.

Which meant she would have to stick with swords. That she could at least figure out by trial and error if nothing else and swords were easily replaced. The fact it would give her a minor bit of distance from her opponent was a bonus.

Potions she was a bit leery of, as she had no idea what their effects were but paid for most of the 'basics'.

The biggest relief however came when she was able to get some clothes. Most of her money was spent on traveling gear (except a tent...there was no way she was going to pay money for _disposable_ lodging!), but she was still able to get a few outfits. And, much to her relief, some underthings. Much to her mortification she really _had_ grown in the chest, by at least _three_ cup sizes! She had been a mid C before, but now her chest was a low D.

The one thing that did bug the hell out of her was that everyone kept comparing her to someone called Sephiroth. If not for the fact she was clearly a woman, she had the sneaking suspicion she would have had to deal with stalkers.

Thoughts of Colin Creevey made her shudder in disgust. The last thing she needed was fan boys or fan girls that were obsessed with someone else and took mistaken identity way too far.

It wasn't until she found a picture of the man that she saw why people kept asking her if she knew or was related to "the great Sephiroth".

Honestly, even if she _had_ known who the man was she would have felt a great deal of pity for him. Dealing with this many "fans" (more like sycophants) over what he did during a ridiculous war... though she found it telling that the majority of them were women and he was something of a looker...had to be rather tiring. The boys all suffered a rather vexing case of hero-worship.

If she ever ran into this Sephiroth, she would offer him her sincere and open condolences with having to deal with the utter idiocy that was the "Silver Elite". The poor man likely needed a sympathetic ear that wasn't out to get into his pants.

Rena was completely unaware of the rumors she had accidentally spawned in her way of a "materia accident" that had left the great general Sephiroth a woman. Or the sheer amount of ribbing he would receive from his friends when _they_ heard about it.

So far it was rather small, but it wouldn't be long before Sephiroth started looking for answers.

Rena was about ten seconds away from bitch-slapping someone. In her defense, she hadn't thought this...Silver Elite...would be quite so rabid.

It was like dealing with Colin Creevey ramped up to a hundred times worse combined with Skeeter's incessant need to spread gossip and lies. Her empathy for Sephiroth grew to even greater heights with every town she visited.

It was _that_ bad.

Hearing someone ask if "Sephiroth" had somehow gotten hit with a materia to switch genders, her limited patience for idiots snapped like a brittle twig.

' _I swear to Morgana, Merlin and Maeve that the next person to call me Sephiroth or mistake me for him is going to get slapped.'_

Fate, it seemed, hated her. But she already knew that so she didn't make a note of it.

"Seph?" said a confused and somewhat bewildered male voice. One that was too old to be a teenager.

SLAP*

Dead silence.

"My _name,_ " she hissed with absolute irritation and feminine fury, "Is Serenity. _Not_ Sephiroth. If I hear one more bastard call me by that name I will start using the so called 'Silver Elite' as target practice, laws be damned!"

The bewildered and somewhat shocked man wearing quite a bit of red with hair to put a Weasley at least has the decency to look embarrassed.

"Sorry...it's just you look almost exactly like him, save for the fact you have breasts," he said apologetically.

"So I've been told. Repeatedly. By his so-called fans. If I ever meet this Sephiroth I am going to offer my sincere condolences for having to put up with such complete and utter idiocy on a daily basis."

"What about the other fanclubs?" he asked, curious.

"What other fan clubs?" she asked baffled.

"Red Poet and Keepers of Honor," he replied.

"...I swear fans have the worst habit of losing their brain cells when it comes to objects of their affection. I mean those names sound completely and utterly _ridiculous_ and make it clear that the entire group is full of idiots without brain between them all too eager to invade someone's privacy for the sake of their own obsession."

He stared at her, an insane glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"So you're not an obsessed member of the Silver Elite?"

"Have you ever had to dodge a fireball aimed at you before?" she growled.

He laughed, though she detected a hint of desperation in his voice.

She eyed him for a moment. He wore a _lot_ of red...and a sneaking suspicion came to mind.

"You're the one that the 'Red Poets' are obsessed with, aren't you?"

"Guilty. Genesis Rhapsodos at your service."

"You poor bastard. Why poet though?"

"I have a tendency to recite _Loveless_ when I'm nervous."

"What's _Loveless_?"

The look on his face when she said that resembled the same expression Ron had when she asked what Quidditch was. It made the Weasley comparison almost _impossible_ to ignore.

On an unrelated note, after hearing a fraction of the incomplete play Rena went and bought a copy. It reminded her of Shakespeare almost, and gave her something to do when she was traveling between towns.

(It also sparked another rumor among the Silver Elite that Sephiroth had been converted to _Loveless_ by Genesis at long last. He was not pleased, especially when the red head started laughing his ass off when he found out what happened.)


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Seph, guess who finally tracked down this mystery double that's had your fans in a tizzy by accident?" said Genesis with glee.

Sephiroth looked up from his paperwork to glare at him, unamused.

"If you're here to repeat yet another rumor that I somehow was turned into a woman due to a materia accident..." he growled.

"No, I mean I actually _met_ the woman who's been sparking the rumors during my mandatory vacation. The rumors weren't kidding about her looking like a freaking double of you with breasts," said Genesis.

Angeal walked in at that comment.

"Please tell me you aren't here to repeat another one of those rumors."

"Nope. Just that I found the source of them," said Genesis with far too much amusement about the matter. "The first thing she did when I called her 'Seph' was slap me."

That got their attention.

"She _slapped_ you," said Sephiroth.

"Apparently she's just as sick about the rumors as you are. It's annoying the hell out of her that your fan club keeps thinking you had a materia accident and bothering her," said Genesis.

"Is the resemblance _that_ strong?" asked Sephiroth.

Genesis took out his PHS, and then pulled up a picture.

"...If I didn't know any better I would honestly swear that was you," admitted Angeal. Sephiroth stared at it...then he started growling.

"What's on your mind?"

"Goddess-be-damned Hojo. If this is the result of one of _his_ experiments I am going to absolutely murder him!" said Sephiroth.

He put up with a lot of crap, but this? This was a new low even for him and if he was responsible then Sephiroth was gutting him. And it would be so utterly satisfying... Goddess knew he fantasized about it constantly to begin with.

"On an unrelated note, when she found out I had direct access to you she wanted me to pass on a message."

"What message?" asked Sephiroth, curious in spite of himself.

"'You have my condolences.'"

"I...what?"

Angeal looked just as confused. Genesis looked bemused himself.

"Apparently she feels empathy towards the fact we have rabid fan clubs and feels sorry for the fact we have to deal with obsessed stalkers intent on invading our privacy and blowing everything out of proportion because we're 'famous' or 'good looking'. When I introduced myself she didn't even bat an eye or look like she honestly gave a damn about my fame or reputation," said Genesis. "She also said that if it wasn't for the fact that she knew how annoying stalkers were and the fact it would definitely be taken the wrong way, she would have offered to buy you the strongest drink she could find so you could get drunk and vent about how annoying you found the Silver Elite without having someone to judge you for it."

"Sounds like she has experience with fan clubs and stalkers of her own," mused Angeal.

"That's the impression I got, but from the sound of it I think her's were a bit more low-key...or she found a way to avoid them."

Sephiroth was silent. He had never had someone give their 'condolences' for having to put up with the general annoyance of the Silver Elite.

"Did you at least get her name?"

"Serenity, but she said I could call her Rena after I introduced her to _Loveless_. Pretty sure she's been living under a rock or in a cave, because she had absolutely no idea who I was until I introduced myself."

Genesis rather liked her wit. She was funny, intelligent and did not suffer idiots at all. He had laughed himself sick when some of the Silver Elite came to bother them and she had followed through on her threat of using them for target practice using his favorite game for people who annoyed him.

He liked to call it 'Dodge Fireball'.

He had happily spent a rather enjoyable vacation chatting with Rena while she made a living as a freelance monster hunter. Considering her strong resemblance to Sephiroth, it was likely the only job she'd find where she wouldn't be harassed constantly by the Silver Elite. Even if it was a little strange that she looked so much like Sephiroth, her skills with the sword would have disabused him of the notion very quickly. She was obviously self-taught and had a preference for magic over actual sword-play.

Most of their discussions had be spent talking about the different use for materia and how to combine them in creative ways.

He didn't mind helping her to acquire a better sword, or show her how to hold it properly and how to actually equip her materia to it for added effect. He suspected she came from a _very_ small village without much access to the outside world where women were expected to be housewives and not go looking for adventure. The kind of place where her only future would be to marry young and pop out as many children as possible with no regard to her own dreams. It would explain a _lot_.

Considering her appearance (particularly with that hair color and bust), he could make an educated guess why she left.

* * *

Rena looked at the greens in her hand dubiously.

"So let me get this straight...I use the chocobo lure to summon the bird, defeat the monster, then feed it the greens and then I get a way to travel without having to walk?"

She had seen the birds before, but had no idea they could be domesticated.

"That's how it works," said Billy.

"What the hell...not like I had anything better to do today."

She used the chocobo lure and prepared herself for a fight. Some quick spellwork later, and she had a rather amusing chocobo that had a fascination for her hair.

"Aren't you just adorable," she cooed at it. "I think I'll call you Sunshine."

The newly dubbed Sunshine warked, before attempting to nibble on her braid. He closed his eyes in pleasure when she started stroking his chest feathers the same way she used to do with Hedwig.

She had been in this odd world for a year, but she still missed her owl terribly.

She spent a few days getting used to riding her new chocobo (it fell in love with her by the end of the first day) before realizing she much preferred riding the odd birds to walking.

She spoiled Sunshine rotten, and the bird adored her for it.

* * *

It was during one of her supply runs into a random town (the Silver Elite were beyond annoying and she hated going into civilization because of it) that she ran into someone she didn't expect.

"Oof!"

She was reading some interesting poetry (she now had a new best friend in Genesis, as the two would trade quips for _hours_ out of boredom) when she crashed into him.

In all fairness, she had been quite distracted.

"I'm sorry about that miss," said a voice.

Rena picked up her book...and politely accepted the man's hand.

"It's my fault. I tend to get rather distracted while reading," she replied, dusting off. Then she got a good look at who she crashed into. "Are you Angeal Hewley?"

The half-wince said volumes.

She smiled in commiseration.

"Genesis speaks highly of you...in between groaning about someone he insists is a 'puppy' that you've taken under your wing. You have my sympathy for having to deal with that much energy if your apprentice does squats while bored," she replied.

Angeal blinked, before recognition and realization hit.

"Are you Rena?"

"Please tell me you're not going to compare me to Sephiroth too."

"The resemblance is uncanny, but the clothes and the braid are enough to keep me from making that mistake," he admitted. "That plus I happen to know he's desk bound for the next month due to the most recent batch of cadets."

Rena winced in sympathy. Then she got a good look at his sword.

"Okay, how exactly are you able to use a sword like _that_? It looks like an oversized meat cleaver!"

Angeal grinned. It seemed Genesis wasn't kidding about Rena being the 'rare female who could make decent conversation'.

"So what brings you to Costa de Sol?"

"Supply runs, mostly. I find the fan clubs far too annoying to deal with to stay among humans for too long. Though could you explain why I kept getting the evil eye over in Wutai?" she asked baffled.

"It's mostly because of Sephiroth. He almost single-handedly won the war over there, and they don't particularly _like_ him for it," explained Angeal.

"Figures. One man's hero is another man's villain, so of course my weird resemblance to him would bite me in the arse," she muttered in annoyance.

Angeal found Rena to be a refreshing conversationalist. While he did catch her staring at his ass a few times, she never tried to flirt with him or try to sleep with him.

Instead they talked about the matter of honor and the fact that sometimes, one had to put aside their own feelings in order to insure that it was upheld.

He had never met anyone who actually _understood_ why he found it so important. Not without being mocking about it, or who just agreed with him.

Angeal, in Rena's opinion, would have made an excellent Gryffindor. Genesis was a toss-up between a mischievous Slytherin or a Ravenclaw. He was too damn sneaky and vicious to be a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor.

The look on Angeal's face when she suggested a light sparring match to see if her sword skills had improved almost caused her to laugh herself silly. Especially when Angeal figured out she meant an _actual_ spar and not because she wanted to sleep with him.

On the plus side, hearing Angeal declare her 'adequate' using a sword considering she didn't have anyone to train her was great. Genesis' preferred blade was a rapier, whereas she prefered swords that were a combination of broadsword and katana. She took one look at the 'buster swords' and had dismissed them immediately because she didn't want anything that bulky.

However Angeal _did_ know a lot of basic sword exercises for people learning how to use one for the first time, and he found himself with a student who paid attention and asked intelligent questions while he adjusted her footing or her grip.

By the end of his vacation, Angeal was in a _much_ better mood than he was expecting and best of all Rena had managed to attach some sort of spell onto a bracelet that would let him slip past the worst of his fan club unmolested.

He openly kissed her when he realized the bracelet worked and swore to _never_ take it off. None of the generals liked their fan clubs, and barely tolerated them at best.

Angeal had to admit her squeak of surprise when he kissed her was adorable, and the baffled blush on her face was amusing. Though she had a speculative look when he told her in all seriousness that Genesis and Sephiroth would pay outrageous sums of money for similar bracelets...especially Sephiroth.

Considering she had been saving up for a new sword since her current one was about ready for the scrap heap, he had the feeling that one of them would be making a special delivery very soon.

Though it did beg the question how much experience Rena had with men, because she had trouble looking him in the eye outside of sparring after he kissed her for solving most of his fan club problem.

He was betting not a lot, since she openly admitted to avoiding civilization thanks to the Silver Elite.

* * *

Zack was wondering about the odd "mission" Angeal had assigned him when he was supposed to be on his mandatory vacation. He had seemed really amused by it too.

Why did his mentor want him to make a delivery?

"Wark!"

Zack turned...only to find a _massive_ yellow chocobo staring him down, along with a Sephiroth clone with boobs.

"What the hell?" he said in surprise. "You mean to tell me that rumor about a girl-Sephiroth was real?"

Her face pulled into a scowl.

"Have you ever played a game Genesis affectionately likes to call 'Dodge Fireball'?" she asked flatly.

Zack winced.

"I'm sorry! It's just that rumor's been floating around for over two years now and every time someone claims it's full of shit another one pops up! Though it is weird that there aren't any in Midgard."

"Do I _look_ stupid enough to enter that place when it's the epicenter of the Silver Elite?" she said incredulous. "The branch offices are irritating enough to deal with, the last thing I want to deal with is the biggest grouping of them!"

That...made a scary amount of sense actually.

"My bad... so are you the one Angeal sent me to deliver this package to?" he asked.

"That depends... are you the incorrigible Puppy Genesis is always complaining about?"

"Come on, why does everyone keep comparing me to a puppy?" complained Zack playfully.

She mock thought.

"Maybe it's because you look and act like an incorrigible puppy that hasn't learned not to chew on the furniture or make a mess on the floor?" she teased, getting off her chocobo. "This is Sunshine, by the way."

Zack stroked the chocobo's beak, getting a happy 'wark' in return.

"So what exactly did Angeal want me to deliver anyway?"

Rena took the package and opened it...and then pulled out a sword.

"...Angeal has some seriously weird ideas for gifts."

"More like he remembered our sparring match. This sword has much better balance than the one I've been using," said Rena pleased. She did a few practice swings away from Sunshine and Zack, and her expression was very happy.

"You like swords?"

"Never really got into them until I became a freelance monster hunter, but they're a lot easier to handle than a gun. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a decent shot, but at least swords are easier to maintain. Besides, it's such a pain carrying all those bullets around. Spells on the other hand... I've been learning how to cast since I was eleven," she replied. She eyes Zack with a grin that was all too familiar...mostly because it was one he often saw on himself. "Care to break this thing in?"

"Hell yeah!" said Zack enthusiastically.

By the end of it, he would swear up and down to Angeal that it was like fighting a less experienced Sephiroth with the wicked aim of Genesis when it came to spells. What Rena lacked in skill when it came to swords she made up for with vicious spell casting. He did have to wonder why she insisted he give Sephiroth and Genesis a pair of bracelets though. Or why the two generals held the items like holy relics.

Very weird.


	3. Chapter 3

Genesis was in a foul mood. After the disastrous spar with Sephiroth, his arm had been killing him. Not literally mind you, but the fact it hadn't healed by now was highly worrying.

The worst part was that none of them could figure out what was going on. And to add insult to injury (literally) he had somehow sprouted a _wing_ of all things.

He couldn't take on missions without worrying about injuries not healing up like they should, and Sephiroth had basically told him to take a few days off on mandatory leave until his shoulder healed.

Which meant he was sulking in his apartment like a child. Not that he would admit it as such.

He had just gotten a beer when he sensed someone in his apartment.

Growling at the thought of the so-called fan clubs or worse, one of the amoral scientists the President seeming to favor breaking into his _home_ , Genesis palmed a materia.

If he found a stalker or some lapdog of the scientists, he was going to kill them and hide the body later.

"Genesis, I know you're a bachelor but this place is a freaking pigsty," drawled a familiar voice.

He very nearly dropped his materia in shock.

"Rena?"

The girl pulled back a hood, revealing familiar silver hair and mako-green eyes. For a moment he would swear they were glowing in a very familiar manner in the dark.

Which was ridiculous. He knew for a fact that Rena didn't have mako treatments. For one thing there weren't any female soldiers, and for another he knew _someone_ would have mentioned a female Sephiroth in the company long before now.

She smiled at him tiredly.

"Do you have _any_ idea what a headache it was sneaking into Midgard? I had to leave Sunshine behind at the ranch and make it here on foot to see if you were alright."

"I thought you hated Midgard," he blurted out.

"No, I'm just not stupid enough to let your rabid fanclubs see me, especially since this is where the main bulk of them are," she corrected dryly.

Genesis blinked...and silently conceded her point. She found the 'branch offices' irritating enough to deal with.

"How are you feeling?" asked Rena with open concern.

"I'm fine."

"I'm calling that complete and utter bullshit. If anyone knows how to deflect inquiries towards your personal health with an 'I'm fine', it's me," she snapped. "Now how are you really feeling?"

Genesis blinked, but heard the honest concern and worry in her voice. She actually cared about how he was feeling.

"My shoulder feels like shit and now I have to worry about mutations on top of everything else," he conceded reluctantly.

She blinked.

"Mutations?"

Genesis willed his new wing out, expecting disgust and horror. Instead he got curiosity and interest.

"Two questions..." she asked.

"What?" he snapped unhappily.

"One, can you fly with that thing?" she asked.

"I have no idea. I'm still freaking out about it showing up in the first place," Genesis replied irritable. "What's your other question?"

"Do you know where I can get a pair for myself?" she asked honestly.

Genesis stared at her incredulous.

"You actually _want_ a pair of wings? Despite the fact you'll almost certainly be looked at like a freak?"

Rena's flinch at the word "freak" made Genesis realize he had gone too far.

"I've been called a 'freak' for most of my life. At least if I had some wings people would have a valid reason for it," she said quietly, clearly hurt.

"I'm sorry," said Genesis honestly. "I didn't mean it."

"Didn't stop my aunt, uncle and cousin from calling me that every day for ten years simply because my aunt was horribly jealous of her younger sister, and her husband was a bigoted walrus," said Rena tiredly.

Genesis didn't know what made him do it, but he wrapped his wing around her which made her relax a bit before pulling her into a hug. She relaxed into his hold.

Suddenly his issue with the wing and the new problem with his healing factor didn't seem so important.

It took him five full minutes to realize Rena was calmly stroking his wing in a way that felt _really_ good.

"How are you doing that? Every time I have it out it always feels like it's about to cramp up!"

She smiled, though there was still some lingering sadness in her eyes.

She pulled him to the couch and then pulled his wing towards her.

"Watch me and do as I do. It's only cramping up because you don't know how to stretch it properly."

She started to stroke his wing in a soothing pattern that had Genesis almost melt into it. He felt himself relaxing into her arms, and without even knowing when or how, ended up laying his head in her lap.

"Sleep, Genesis. I'll be here when you wake up," she said gently, running her hand through his hair in a way that made him really sleepy.

* * *

Angeal came by to check on Genesis. He hadn't been answering his PHS for two days and he was getting worried.

"Genesis? Are you in here?"

Angeal's face grew alarmed when he heard voices inside...and not just Genesis. It sounded like there was a woman in there too.

It took everything in him not to burst in the door to find out who was in there.

Genesis opened it, and he saw a flash of a skirt in there.

"Who's in there with you?" he asked, concerned.

Genesis looked back and said "It's Angeal. Want me to let him in?"

"It's your apartment. So long as he doesn't draw those _things_ here I could care less," said another voice.

Angeal's eyes widened.

"Is that..."

Genesis practically pulled him in and he found Rena hiding behind the door.

"I thought you hated Midgard?" he asked baffled.

"No, she just doesn't want to deal with the bulk of our rabid fan base," said Genesis amused.

Angeal looked at his long time friend. Genesis looked far more relaxed than he had expected. He eyed the two of them with amusement.

"You two haven't been sleeping together, have you?" he asked.

Genesis sputtered.

"Not in the way you're thinking," said Rena, rolling her eyes. "Get your head out of the gutter."

"Yeah, sleeping with her is just..." said Genesis annoyed.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Do you have any idea how annoying it is to hear that I have repressed sexual tension towards _Sephiroth_? I mean the fan art that the clubs made with us sleeping together is bad enough, but if word got out I was having sex with a girl who could pass for his twin? No, just no," said Genesis.

"And he reminds me way too much of my former best friend, who I practically consider a brother. Well, him and _his_ older brothers. I bet you anything you'd love meeting the twins...or at least the explosions they enjoy making," agreed Rena.

"How many older brothers does he have?" asked Genesis, curious.

"Five, and he's the second youngest with his sister being the baby of the family and the first daughter in generations," replied Rena.

Genesis wasn't the only one to stare at that piece of information.

"Their poor mother."

"More like their poor ears. That woman has the voice of a banshee and isn't ashamed to air out the 'dirty laundry' of her children by yelling at them when everyone is trying to enjoy a peaceful breakfast because they were caught getting into trouble. I swear her two oldest sons moved to different countries just to get _away_ from her," corrected Rena. "Never mind her bad habit of coddling anyone the same age as her children."

"So what brought you to Midgard?" asked Angeal.

"Genesis' texts were worrying me, so I snuck into the city to find him," said Rena. "Fortunately I was able to track the bracelets I gave you three, so it wasn't that hard."

"So what have you two been doing? I mostly came over because he hasn't been answering his PHS for two days."

"Mostly trying to help him relax. Did you know if you stroke his wing the right way he _purrs_?" said Rena in wicked delight.

"Guys do no purr! We rumble in a manly way!" counted Genesis embarrassed.

"Sure you do," snickered Rena.

Genesis grumbled.

"I'm fairly certain Sephiroth has a mission for you. I mostly offered to come since you weren't answering your phone."

Genesis perked up at that.

"Where to?"

"Some secluded town called Nibelhiem. One of the cadets is a local there, so he'll be personally assigned and I was thinking of loaning you Zack."

"Ugh... I _hate_ Nibelhiem...it's bad enough that the place is located in the freaking mountains and it's almost as bad as home, but the people there are just..." said Rena in disgust.

"Bad?"

"It's isolated and they _really_ hate outsiders. Think small town with extra paranoia towards new blood and new ideas. If anything bad goes down, _you'll_ be the first one they blame simply because you're not from there," said Rena without hesitation. "I only briefly visited _once_ to see the materia caves, but it was _not_ worth the reception I got the second they found out I was a freelance monster hunter. The only ones who didn't immediately snub me was a widow on the outskirts of the village and a man by the name of Zangan who made a living teaching kids how to fight barehanded."

"What was the widow's name?" asked Genesis.

If he was going to be stuck going there, it would help to know who would talk to them.

"Strife, I think. Never really got her first name, but she let me stay the night and mentioned a son. I think he came to Midgard."

Angeal sat up at that.

"Strife? Was her son's name Cloud by any chance?

"Yeah. Spiky blond hair that looked like the back end of a chocobo, blue eyes and socially awkward. You know him?" asked Rena.

"Zack's mentioned a new friend by the name of Cloud Strife recently. He seems to have a knack for my particular brand of swords," said Angeal. "He's the cadet I mentioned that was being sent with you."

"Well in _that_ case, could you tell him that his mother is doing fine and wishes him well? Just keep it from him that you're heading to his home town and spring it on him as a surprise," said Rena mischievously.

Genesis snickered at that.

"Anything of interest there?"

"The materia caves are interesting enough, but the reception I got from the locals made me disinclined to stay longer. Otherwise I would have investigated the mansion there. I heard it was haunted," said Rena with a shrug.

"Mansion?" said Genesis with interest.

"The locals called it the 'Shin-Ra mansion' and forbid anyone from going near it. Surprisingly, the kids actually obey that particular rule save to dare themselves to touch the front door. Mrs. Strife said it was filled with monsters, though why they haven't gone into town if that's the case I couldn't tell you."

"...Would you be willing to join the group?"

Rena made a face at that.

"One, it would take far too long for me to get Sunshine and ride there...besides, they said I should breed him to get a new one soon. Two, their attitude is way too much like what I had to put up with growing up. Besides, wouldn't you have to report seeing me there?"

"Not if we dress you as a cadet too," said Genesis. "If we can bind your chest back and give you a loose cadet uniform, no one is going to question it. Just cite motion sickness or something."

"You really want me to go with you?"

"Hell yes! At least then I would have someone to talk to or at least divert the Puppy!" said Genesis. "Besides, didn't you just say you wanted to explore the mansion?"

"...If I go then you are going to help me acquire some summon materia. I _really_ despise their particular attitude," said Rena flatly.

"Deal," said Genesis. Then a thought occurred to him. "What should we call you? I mean Rena is obviously a girl's name..."

"Banora, maybe? I mean my full name _is_ Serenity Banora Potter, though I never got the significance of my middle name. My mother's family has a tradition of naming girls after flowers after all."

Angeal and Genesis shared a look.

"Have you ever heard of the Banora Apple?" asked Genesis.

She shook her head.

"I am so getting you some later," said Genesis.

"So...who's hungry?" asked Rena.

Genesis perked up at that, which made Angeal curious.

(By nightfall he would have happily converted to whatever deity she worshipped...her food was by far more appealing than anything the mess dared to serve. No wonder Genesis didn't bother to leave his apartment for two days!)

* * *

Nibelhiem was just as horrid as she remembered, and it kept giving her flashbacks of a much colder version of Little Whinging.

Zack had to be called away on a different mission, but Cloud was roped into going whether he liked it or not. The face he made when he found out where they were going due to the smart ass remark of an infantryman who complained about how "he had never heard of a backwater place like Nibelhiem" was almost hilarious.

Genesis quietly inquired about certain "rumors" he heard about Nibelhiem and was not happy at _all_ to have most of what Rena told him about the place confirmed.

 _The next evening_...

Genesis was openly fed up with Nibelhiem, and they had only been there a _day_.

Which made him extra eager to see this mansion that Rena mentioned.

Cloud was decidedly nervous, though he seemed to take some comfort in the quiet "Ban". Why the other member of the trio made him feel a little safer was anyone's guess, but he was glad that he wasn't alone with the crabby Genesis.

So you could imagine his shock when, the moment the door closed behind them in the mansion, the other 'cadet' removed their helmet revealing long silver hair and very familiar features.

"I swear to the Goddess Genesis, I am going to get you for this. I hate their attitudes and this helmet was stifling!" said the Sephiroth lookalike.

The second _she_ spoke however he was quickly disillusioned of it being the general.

"Sir?"

"Eh, she's a friend and this way I have someone I know is competent as back-up without having to deal with politics or that shitty president," said Genesis. "Strife, meet Rena. Rena, this is Strife."

"Your mother is the most patient, tolerant woman I have ever met, to live _here_ and not try to slap the lot of them silly for being complete morons," said Rena with a dead serious tone, looking right at Cloud.

"Thank you?" he said unsure. That was likely the _nicest_ thing he had ever heard said about his mother.

"I'm serious. I grew up in an area a lot like this one where outsiders were the best source of gossip and if you didn't fit their definition of normal you were treated like some sort of diseased leper or something," said Rena. "And heaven _forbid_ you actually show a personality or something interesting... everyone had to conform to what the old people considered 'normal' or be gossiped about with less than kind words until something gave."

Cloud felt the actual empathy in her voice, and slumped slightly.

"I tried to stop the Mayor's daughter from getting killed, and because I failed to keep her from getting injured the entire town blamed me," he admitted.

"I was an unwanted child in my jealous aunt's home and she reminded me of that fact every chance she could while praising her idiot son," she admitted. "Believe me, I know the heartache of being isolated in a small community and treated like crap for actually having a personality and being unique."

"...Are you two done having a chick flick moment or can we explore the place?" asked Genesis patiently.

Rena gave him a Look. He wasn't particularly sure he liked it.

"Just for that, I am turning your hair blue. You have been warned."

Cloud snickered.

(Though he would laugh his ass off quietly when Rena managed to do just that the next morning, much to Genesis' outrage. Zack would cackle for hours when he found out who was behind it...especially since Cloud had pictures.)


	4. Chapter 4

Rena was staring at the man in the coffin.

"How can he _possibly_ find that comfortable? I mean it's about as baffling as why Angeal and Zack can use those oversized butcher knives like normal swords," said Rena confused.

"I know right? I mean are they compensating for something or what with those things?" snickered Genesis.

Cloud decided to take one for the team and reached out to the corpse. Which wasn't a corpse at all apparently, and nearly gave him a heart attack when a less than amused red eye glared at him.

However the man in the coffin took _one_ look at Rena and froze.

"Sephiroth?" he questioned.

Rena's face twitched in annoyance.

"Call me that again and I will shoot you in the ass," she snarled. "I am sickand tired of people making that comparison."

His eyes widened in shock.

"It can't be. You disappeared into the Lifestream."

"Wait, _what_?" said Genesis in shock, his attention fully on the 'corpse'.

"Lucrecia gave birth to twins, which came as a surprise to everyone. Sephiroth was born first...but his _sister_ disappeared into the Lifestream after three days according to that snake Hojo."

Genesis and Cloud looked at Rena, who didn't try to claim he was lying. Instead she looked thoughtful.

"You know something," said Genesis.

"I'm adopted and my godfather _did_ mention there were some unusual circumstances about my origins. Something about a major ritual being used and how my father found me in the middle of a circle with several people in the room being magically exhausted. It _is_ possible I might be Sephiroth's sister...it would explain the resemblance at least," admitted Rena. "I couldn't have been more than a few days old from what I was told."

"Are you telling me that you think you were _summoned_?" said Genesis incredulous.

"I've seen weirder things happen. Much weirder," deadpanned Rena. "But I can prove I'm not lying at least."

"How?" asked Cloud, curious.

Rena smirked in an unholy way, and then started speaking in a language that sounded way too much like a snake hissing.

"What the hell?!" said Genesis, freaked out.

"It's called Parseltongue, which is basically the language of snakes. Due to a certain incident, I've developed the ability to speak it. Basilisks react really weirdly around me and keep trying to follow me in town whenever I tell them to shut up and forget to kill them off," admitted Rena. "It was either that or I attempt to call Fawkes. He's the most likely one to reach me considering the way I managed to make it back."

"Who's Fawkes?" asked the one from the coffin. She really needed to get his name.

"Fawkes is a phoenix," she replied. "Magic is a vast and wonderous thing, but heaven help you if you actually think it's going to follow something as structured as science. It easier to think of it as an intent based energy."

Rather than dispute this, Genesis looked thoughtful.

"You know that would explain _sooo_ much."

"How would you summon a phoenix outside of materia?"

Rena concentrated on Fawkes in particular and imagined an 'inquiry' of sorts with her magic. Then she 'willed' it to reach the bird.

Instinct made her hold out her right arm when the fireball appeared, causing both Cloud and Genesis to yelp as phoenix song filled the chamber.

A massive red and gold bird easily landed on her arm, before giving her a Look.

"Don't give me that. I was finally free of that whole nonsense and I wasn't really inclined to go back. Besides, I needed time away from England to grieve over Sirius," she said annoyed.

The phoenix chuffed, conceding that. Then he tilted his head curiously. He pecked at the orb that she kept around her neck, which was actually the first materia she had found.

"Dear Gaia, it actually _is_ a phoenix..." said Genesis in shock.

"I didn't know they could be domesticated," said Cloud, also in shock.

"Maybe on Gaia they can't, but on Earth it's a different story," said Rena absently, stroking Fawkes' breast feathers and causing him to croon in pleasure. "How's Hedwig?"

Fawkes took his wing and made a 'so-so' gesture.

"Could you bring her here?"

He swayed his head from side to side, causing Rena to sigh in disappointment.

"Damn. Can you at least bring my things here? Just the trunk mind you... I can sort through most of it and send the rest back."

Fawkes trilled in agreement...he already had an idea of who to ask for help.

He disappeared in a second fireball, to the collective disbelief of the men.

"...Did you just have a one-sided conversation with a _phoenix_?" said Genesis incredulous.

"The first present I can ever remember is an owl. Hedwig is scarily smart, and I spent a lot of time taking care of her so I know how to 'listen' to what they're saying. Besides, phoenixes are magical...it only stands to reason they have some degree of intelligence."

"She has a point," conceded the taller man.

"You know we never did get your name."

"Vincent. Vincent Valentine," said the mystery 'vampire' before giving her an odd look. "You said 'on Earth'."

"I don't know how or why, but I think some idiot managed to open up another connection to the Lifestream, which is how I was summoned from my crib despite only being a newborn. All I remember is some weird green mist coming out of an archway, before waking up in a pool of what I now know to be mako. That was rather annoying."

"Wait, wait, wait... did you say you woke up in a pool of _mako?"_ said Genesis horrified. "How are you still alive?!"

She shrugged.

"All I know is that the pool felt like pins and needles against my skin constantly stabbing at me, and that I generally need to add a teaspoon or two into my tea at least once every two or three months or I'll start feeling worse than when my monthly monster hits," she replied. "On an unrelated note I no longer need glasses for some reason."

Dead silence from the men. She didn't get what the big deal was.

All they knew was that they had a massive headache as the lone female seemed to gleefully enjoy breaking what they knew of reality to pieces.

* * *

 _The next evening..._

Genesis was forced to concede the entire headache had not been a hallucination or a horrible nightmare from hell when he saw that damn bird again the next morning. Rena was going through what looked like a school trunk and already had a decent pile on the ground. Finally she closed it, and the bird disappeared with the trunk to parts unknown.

"Do I want to know?"

"My return wasn't exactly planned and I had some useful things in there that I wanted back."

"Like what?" he asked.

He really, really wished he hadn't. She took some sort of silvery cloak and wrapped it around her neck. The second she put the hood on she disappeared completely from his senses.

"What. The. Fuck."

"Invisibility cloak," she said by way of explanation. She had a look of evil glee on her face. "Just imagine all the fun to be had with me sneaking up behind Zack or Angeal and making them think a ghost is following them around."

Genesis thought that over for all of two seconds.

"Do it!" he said with wicked glee. "What about the rest?"

"Odds and ends, and useful bits I wish I had before. Mostly I just wanted my cloak back, since my first wand disappeared when I came here."

"A wand, seriously?"

Rena's grin was pure evil.

She pointed at Genesis and he suddenly fell flat on his face as his legs were bound together by an unseen force.

"Son of a..."

"Leg-locker curse," she sing-songed.

Genesis tried to stand up, but kept falling over until she took pity on him.

"I almost pity Sephiroth if you really are his sister," said Genesis scowling.

"Just imagine the fun of that fat pig or the idiots that run the scientists running afoul of a witch capable of making their precious equipment fry with a few spells."

Genesis stared.

"Say what now?"

"I tend to keep my PHS off when I'm doing heavy spell casting without materia, because magic fries electronics. Can you imagine the havoc I could play with the Science department by being a complete menace?"

Genesis looked evil at the moment.

"Please tell me you're willing to make that a reality. Hojo gives me the creeps and I usually deal with Hollander."

"Considering what Vincent told me about Hojo, I would be more than happy to become the gremlin of the Shin-Ra power company... besides, this means I'll be on hand when the DNA test comes back to see if I really am his sister."

"Considering your looks and knack for swords, it's almost a guarantee."

"I prefer to be paranoid about this sort of thing. Line Theft is not something you should take lightly," said Rena.

Rena, when she found out _why_ Vincent had been in that coffin to begin with, had taken the former Turk to task and given him much to think about regarding his guilt. For reasons Vincent preferred not to think about, Chaos _adored_ Rena to the point he openly ruffled her hair the one time he was let out. The evil cackling she had let loose had not helped his mellow.

On an unrelated note, she would have a permanent traveling partner as Vincent planned to join her as a 'bodyguard'. Likely due to the connection to his former lover, but mostly because as a "civilian" (at least by Shin-Ra standards, she was a warrior through and through) she could vanish without a trace and no one would know until it was far too late.

Sephiroth was safe... he was the Company's shining poster boy for SOLDIER and Hojo's own pet project. Rena was vulnerable the second Hojo discovered her existence.

It was a well established fact that higher levels of mako in the body tended to render women infertile, so the fact Rena had all the mako saturation of a First (they had checked, with some of the old equipment in the mansion) yet still had a period was something that would get Hojo's attention too quickly for any of them to like. At the very least he would attempt to use her as breeding material.

* * *

"How was the mission?" asked Angeal.

"To put it simply... I need a drink," said Genesis flatly.

Angeal winced.

"That bad?"

"It's like she went out of her way to screw with reality until nothing makes sense anymore!" complained Genesis. "By the way, how long does it take for the labs to run a DNA test comparison?"

"Someone try to claim you knocked them up?" asked Angeal.

"No, but something came up that could through the 'great Sephiroth' for a loop for once," said Genesis dryly. "And brought up a major question of his paternity."

Vincent looked way too much like Sephiroth and Serenity to be a coincidence. And he had seen pictures of Lucrecia (along with a copied video of the twins being born that he planned to give to the general once the test came back). While he could see something of a resemblance, there was no way in hell he would believe for a minute Sephiroth was _Hojo's_ son.

Coincidentally Vincent shared some of his DNA as well for the test, because Rena had pointed out something he hadn't considered regarding Lucrecia's pregnancy. There was a _chance_ he might actually be the father of her twin children because of all the experiments done to the unborn fetus in the womb. It was entirely possible that the Jenova cells or any number of things could have delayed their birth and muddled up the paternity of the children even further.

Sure, things would be muddled with the test due to mako and god knew what else in their systems (experimentation for Vincent and Sephiroth, and the basilisk venom/phoenix tears/rituals on Serenity's side), but the vast majority of it would still be the same.

When Genesis got the letters, he took _one_ look at the results before heading straight to Sephiroth's office. He had the video disk on hand as well. He was going to need it.

"We need to talk. Someplace secure without the chance of _anyone_ save those in the group overhearing," said Genesis bluntly, though he was already texting Rena that the results had come back. She would be in Midgard by morning.

"When?"

He looked at his PHS.

"Tomorrow, at the earliest. There are some things you should know before Hojo tries to bury them."

Sephiroth looked at Genesis seriously for a moment.

"Does this have anything to do with the 'female Sephiroth' that has been plaguing me for the past couple of years?"

"Yes."

"I'll clear my schedule," said Sephiroth.

For this he would go out of his way to get answers. The headaches he got from the female Sephiroth rumor were the things of nightmares.


	5. Chapter 5

Sephiroth stared at the results in absolute shock.

"I have a twin sister?" he said in disbelief.

Genesis had first shown Sephiroth the video, which turned out to be a smart move because it had made the story far more believable. Sephiroth recognized Gast at least and had stared at the video of his mother with undisguised fascination.

Then he had finished the video and heard the shock in the scientist's voices learning Lucrecia (which made him question Hojo's claim that "Jenova" was his mother's name) had been carrying twins the entire time.

Sephiroth stared at the newborn girl, before looking at Genesis.

"That female Sephiroth rumor...it's not a clone is it?"

Considering the look Hojo got when Sephiroth outright accused him of making a female clone, he had been forced to conclude it wasn't the deranged scientist's doing.

Genesis handed him the envelopes.

"The top one is the 'clone', the other is someone we ran into in Nibelheim trapped in the mansion outside the town," said Genesis.

Sephiroth looked at the results, and was glad he was already sitting down. Learning that the girl Genesis, Angeal and Zack had run into that went by the name Rena (which was short for Serenity) was actually his twin sister was a complete shock.

The second one was even more damning and destroyed any loyalty Sephiroth had towards Hojo permanently.

The second envelope showed his blood matched the 'mystery donor' enough that it was clear that he was Sephiroth's _actual_ father.

"Do you want me to bring them in?" asked Zack. Rena and Vincent were waiting in another room with Angeal.

"Yeah, I think he's as ready for it as he'll ever be," said Genesis.

Meeting Rena was somewhat emotional, though he had to choke back a laugh when he heard her genuine sympathy regarding the insanity of the "Silver Elite".

It was the hug that broke most of the barriers down though. Sephiroth leaned into his twin's hold like it was the only thing holding him to sanity. She crooned and stroked his hair, letting him snuggle into her side. It felt nice and better than anything he had been given in his entire life.

"Where were you?"

"Someone on another planet managed to tap into the Lifestream and used a very large amount of magic to summon me through it. I was stuck there for fifteen years until I arrived here in a pool of natural mako. I had no idea I had a brother or even that I was from here until recently though, just that I was adopted and that my adopted father found me in a ritual circle with a lot of people suffering magical exhaustion," she replied. "Of course I only found out _after_ the fact when my godfather was able to spend more than a handful of minutes with me in private that I was adopted and that my parents weren't the ones that actually gave birth to me. Since they died when I was barely fifteen months old, I never even got to know them."

Sephiroth looked at Vincent.

"Hojo took my intention of preventing him from experimenting on you further badly and shot me. He then proceeded to use me as an experiment that he then deemed a failure. It was your mother that implanted a special materia in my chest, saving my life and adding yet another 'voice' in my head. I've been trapped under the Shin-Ra mansion in a crypt until very recently... I only intervened when your sister mysteriously disappeared... I wasn't about to let Hojo take the last child Lucrecia had left, as she was devastated losing your sister," said Vincent. "Before that I was a Turk."

"I have to ask... do you _really_ play Dodge Fireball with that blasted fan club?" he asked Rena.

Her look of disgust said enough.

"I _hate_ fans. They're little more than stalkers who are more vocal than normal. Fan boys are bad enough, but fan girls are a hundred times worse. Being a hero is little more than someone all too happy to soak up the adoration that can turn on you just as quickly if the sheep decide that your 'star' is too shiny," she replied acidly. "I had a little stalker of my own, fortunately the worst he could do was take pictures... the girl's dorms were _warded_ against boys."

Colin had been annoying, but manageable. Class schedules, homework, and the fact that the girl's dorms kept boys from going into their room minimized the worst of his hero-worship.

"Wait...dorms?" said Genesis.

"You lot went into SOLDIER, I spent five years learning how to cast magic with a stick, how to brew potions and raise magical plants," she shrugged. "Though I will say this...my yearly misadventures made it much easier to adjust to the weird monsters I kept running into here. It's rather hard to freak out about a tentacle monster from hell when you've literally faced down a pissed off mothering dragon, a snake that can kill you just by looking you in the eyes, and spiders the size of cars that can talk."

"...I don't want to know," said Genesis after a moment.

"Tentacle monster from hell?" asked Sephiroth.

"I believe you call them 'Malboro'. All I know is that I took _one_ look at that damn thing and started casting fireballs while keeping my distance," she said shuddering. "Give me a pissed off dragon or Nibel wolf any day over _that_. I'd even take a Touch Me or a Tonberry!"

Zack shuddered at the mention of the Touch Me.

"I hate those things."

"I find Touch Me to be hilarious, to be honest."

"How can you find something that that turns you into a frog hilarious?"

"Because I would capture the lot of them, before throwing them into the middle of the Silver Elite meetings after I made them think Sephiroth was in the area topless," she replied.

Dead silence.

"That is pure _evil_ ," said Zack with no little amount of awe and wicked glee.

Genesis was too busy cackling at the mental image that presented to be of much use.

Sephiroth was torn between mortified and laughing himself. Rena just looked vindictively smug.

"The best part though? They're so desperate to see a topless Silver General that they still haven't gotten the memo it's a trap."

Sephiroth gave in to amusement and chuckled a little at that. His sister had a wicked sense of humor.

At least he had family he was willing to claim, though the group agreed to keep their silence on the fact Rena was Sephiroth's sister. The last thing she needed was Hojo trying to capture her.

* * *

 _Some time later..._

Much to his relief, Rena and Valentine stayed in Midgard for several months after the revelation she was his sister. Rena was considerably more talkative compared to Vincent, though what little he learned of her childhood made her wonder which of them had worse.

Sephiroth had been put through years of painful experimentation and hell by a man he thought to be his father before literally being turned into a child soldier.

Serenity had been raised as a live-in slave by someone she thought was her aunt while being called a freak and basically told she was worthless by them. Unlike Sephiroth she had been forced to stumble through misadventures that the adults around her _should_ have put a stop to, but instead was treated like a child. Sephiroth knew what conditioning looked like and he was _pissed_ someone was deliberately attempting to turn his sister into a martyr.

For what reason he didn't know, but if he ever met the Dursleys they would wish he had something resembling mercy to child abusers. And he wouldn't need materia to kill them either. As for Dumbledore... he would at least give the man a single chance to explain himself before he gutted the bastard.

On a completely unrelated note, Sephiroth was secretly delighted to learn that his sister was quite the cuddler and that she had no issue with a select number of people invading her personal space purely for the purpose of comfort.

Coming to terms with his actual paternity and the existence of a near identical twin sister was hard enough. Being allowed to crash on his couch with her providing soothing comfort helped to ease the transition.

Finding out she had an interest in Angeal (at least enough to openly stare at his ass whenever she thought he wasn't looking) was something he could do without. However if they ever progressed to dating then Sephiroth reserved the right to chase after his long-time friend with Masamune.

The look on Genesis' face when he said that made Sephiroth wonder if he was going to accidentally kill his other friend from laughing so hard. Either way the red head couldn't look at Angeal for a full week without cackling.

Though the blushing Angeal did when _he_ found out was almost as hilarious.

* * *

In retrospect the fact that Rena would hunt him down to demand answers the _second_ word reached her about the mass desertion of SOLDIER (via Sephiroth) should have been obvious.

The expression on Hollander's face was almost hilarious when he realized that the rumors of a female Sephiroth were actually true.

Nowhere near as entertaining as the sudden shock the SOLDIER's had upon running headfirst into Rena's mothering while looking like their now ex-general, but it was still high up there.

Genesis had to fight back his amusement watching a bunch of grown men following orders from a woman who didn't take shit from anyone. They were all military to a fault and he found it hilarious that the 'General voice' was apparently genetic, because when she told them to jump, they had a tendency to ask "how high" while in mid-air.

Watching his former subordinates all learn the hard way how to cook, clean and actually learn basic living skills beyond the minimum or suffer Rena's wrath (she was not their mother, and she wasn't about to do all the chores herself) was the highlight of his day.

However Genesis noticed the rather worrying way Hollander watched Rena. It was almost greedy and reminded him too much of that sleeze Hojo.

Considering it was _his_ fault that he was suffering through degeneration in the first place, there was no way in hell he was letting that bastard near her.

"So who's the girl?" asked Yuri, one of the seconds.

"Sephiroth's evil twin sister."

"Oi, if anything Seph is the evil one!" protested Rena.

"You lured the Silver Elite with the promise of a shirtless Sephiroth and then tossed a trio of Touch Me's into the center of their meetings," Genesis shot back.

"They're fan girls! It doesn't count!" she shot back.

"Wait, you unleashed those unholy things on the Silver Elite after promising a shirtless Sephiroth for maximum impact?" he said in shock.

"I _hate_ fan girls," she replied. "They are unholy abominations from hell sent to lower the intelligence level of humans everywhere with their shrieking. Though my second favorite thing to do with them is play a game of Dodge Fireball the second they start to group up."

"Holy hell...it's like General Sephiroth had a daughter with Genesis with the Turk's sense of humor."

"Ironic, considering our father actually _is_ an ex-Turk," said Rena cattily.

That got the attention of every SOLDIER there.

"Our father is actually a former Turk who slept with one of the scientists assigned to Nibelhiem to look at some alien parasite that was mistaken for a Cetra. However since Hojo is a complete and utter troll of a bastard, he decided to let his delusions of adequacy believe it was perfectly acceptable to experiment on a baby inside the womb and then continue said experiments despite the objections of the parents well into his teen years. Sephiroth never actually _enlisted_ like the rest of you did. He was thrown headfirst into actual battle in Wutai because the President wanted him to be of more use than just a science experiment. That he survived and managed to make it so far is nothing less than a miracle," said Rena bluntly. "If you want to know why Sephiroth has trouble connecting with the rest of you, that's why. He was literally raised and trained in a lab with limited to no social contact or structures. He has difficulty understanding basic social norms and was forced into becoming a perfect general from the start."

Complete and utter shock filtered through the ranks of the men. They had no idea.

"Isn't Sephiroth going to be pissed that you told them so much?" asked Genesis.

"He needs to learn to trust others. The men are more likely to emphathize with him and follow him out of actual loyalty rather than habit if he makes himself a little more human. Besides... this gives them motivation to kill Hojo later if he ever finds out about me."

The fact she would later tell Genesis about Deepground...and the fact he had children via Hojo _and_ Hollander just pissed the red head off.


	6. Chapter 6

It started with a bet that spiraled out of control. Sort of.

Genesis was in an even fouler mood than usual, Angeal had disappeared to parts unknown for a week, and Serenity was bored enough to do something a little crazy.

"I bet I could almost kill you with laughter," said Serenity.

Genesis scoffed at that.

"I _highly_ doubt any spell of yours would work," he shot back with snark.

"I wouldn't _need_ spells to make you laugh from the sheer ridiculousness of the image I have in mind," said Serenity, with a wicked gleam in her mind. "But I would rather wait for Angeal to return so I could get him too."

Now she saw a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes.

"What are you planning?"

"Something that would send Hojo up the wall at the thought of his 'perfect specimen' cross-dressing and acting in a manner he definitely wouldn't approve of, and go completely viral if it got out. I bet if we sent it to Zack he would have great trouble looking at Sephiroth for months without trying not to laugh."

That glimmer turned into a gleam of wicked delight. Now she knew she had him hooked on whatever her plan was.

 _A few days later..._

"Oh. My. Gaia."

Genesis was staring, and he wasn't the only one... though Angeal had _another_ reaction to the sight before him, but was able to hide it.

"Sparkle, shine, your command is mine!" teased Serenity, aiming a ridiculous looking wand at Genesis.

 _That_ did him in, and he was on the ground absolutely _howling_.

"What the hell are you wearing?" asked Vincent. _'And why is Chaos dancing around in my head while cackling in a way that gives me nightmares?'_

"Only three words describe this particular outfit. Magical. Girl. Sephiroth."

Genesis broke out in a fresh peal of laughter.

She looked _ridiculous_ , and to make matters worse she had put her hair in _pigtails_ that went down both sides of her face save for the bangs.

Serenity had, while bored during her summers and in an effort to escape the hell that was the Dursley home, visited the local library and surfed the internet.

It was there she got hooked on the magical girl genre and had ordered quite a number of manga via owl express and a muggleborn company that catered to magical clients.

It was through this company that she had gotten her hands on a rather interesting series called _"High School DXD"_ , and consequently the character Serafall Leviathan or "Levia-tan".

Coincidentally this was who she was _dressed_ as, complete with staff, just in colors that complimented her own rather than the pink thing Serafall had worn in the series. Also it was why Genesis was about dead from cackling on the ground.

It didn't take much for Vincent to hold the camera and record her doing a few poses and phrases, and it took a few moments before Angeal could give her Zack's personal PHS number to send one of the videos to him.

Either way, Serenity won the bet and considered it a personal victory when Angeal couldn't take his eyes off her. She was rather pleased about that actually.

Now...how to hack Hojo's computers and make one of those files pop up every time he went to commit crimes against nature and send him up the wall?

Sephiroth was _really_ getting suspicious. Every time Zack came to see him, he had enormous difficulty keeping a straight face around him and was constantly fighting the urge to snicker outright in his presence.

Finally enough was enough.

"Fair, come in here for a moment."

Zack kept his face as blank as he possibly could, but Sephiroth could still see it twitching.

"What in blazes has gotten into you lately?"

"It's nothing sir. It's just I got sent a certain video from a monster hunter we both know and now I'm having far too much difficulty not laughing. Fortunately they were kind enough not to spread this particular thing around because I know the press and your fan club would have a field day if they got ahold of it."

Sephiroth had an increasing feeling of dread hearing that.

"What video?"

The second he saw it, he had a migraine. Thank the Goddess his sister didn't hate him, because this would have absolutely _killed_ his reputation within hours.

Why, in the name of all things holy was his twin sister wearing _that_?

"From what she told me, there was a bet involved with Genesis."

"...I am going to absolutely murder him," growled Sephiroth.

Zack snickered.

"No, you don't understand. She was the one to make a bet with _him_ that she could almost kill him with laughter with no spells involved."

"Wait... this wasn't because she lost a bet with him?" said Sephiroth confused.

"Nope," said Zack. "Also, I heard she's trying to hack into Hojo's personal computers in order to make some of the other videos pop up every time he plans to commit crimes against nature, or something."

Sephiroth had a headache.

"That's basically every single experiment he's ever done including SOLDIER injections," he commented.

"Yeah, but she's hopeful seeing that sort of thing would make his head explode and free you from your misery," said Zack snickering. "Or at the very least royally piss him off and distract him from bothering you."

"On another note, how did _Angeal_ react to seeing her dressed up like that?" asked Sephiroth, darkly amused.

"Angeal?" said Zack, blinking.

"You didn't know? Rena has a major crush on your teacher. I know I've seen her staring at his ass a few times when she thought he wasn't looking."

Zack choked a little at that.

"And you're not pissed at him?"

"Like I told him when I figured it out. The second they start _officially_ dating I reserve first dibs on being allowed to chase him for two hours with Masamune drawn," drawled Sephiroth.

Zack snickered at the mental image of Sephiroth chasing after Angeal for dating his sister. It was rather hilarious.

* * *

Vincent was looking for Angeal. It seemed he needed to have a little 'talk' with the ex-SOLDIER about his daughter.

He wasn't blind to the fact that Angeal and Serenity were clearly attracted to each other. Only a fool would miss something so obvious.

But while Serenity was willing to give him a chance, Angeal's head was stuck up rather far up his ass to the point he kept missing the fact she was interested in him. Either that or he was letting his _honor_ keep him from giving it a try because he was worried how her brother would handle it.

Vincent had already spoken with Sephiroth about the matter long before the mass desertion. He was fine with it since he knew Angeal would do the honorable thing if anything happened (like if Rena got pregnant for instance), but had mostly thrown out the idea of chasing his old friend around with his sword as a joke. The problem was Angeal was too hung up on the fact Rena was Sephiroth's sister to _do_ anything about it.

Hence why the ex-Turk planned to sit the idiot down and explain a few things to him.

The ex-SOLDIER was rather nervous, and who could blame him? He was being faced with the father of a girl he had an interest in. however, his honor (and the unspoken code of men everywhere) kept him from acting on that interest.

It was a rule among men that "thou shall not date your guy friend's sisters". And Sephiroth was one of his good friends...it would be unspeakably awkward to date his twin sister.

Even if his traitorous mind kept reminding him Sephiroth was perfectly okay with the idea so long as he was allowed to jokingly chase Angeal around for two hours with his sword drawn.

"You are rather annoying to track down," said Vincent.

Angeal flinched.

"You _do_ realize she's never going to act on what she wants unless someone pushes her into it, right?" he commented.

Angeal blinked.

"What?"

"Rena is incredibly self-sacrificing and it's very obvious she has a bad habit of giving up what _she_ wants in regards for her own happiness as long as it means someone else is happy in her stead. She's not used to chasing after the things she wants, especially in regards to someone she likes," said Vincent bluntly. "So if you expect to get anywhere with her, _you_ will have to make the first move. Otherwise she's never going to act."

Angeal stared at him.

"And you're okay with this?"

"I lost any right to say how she lives when she was summoned away, and I lost that same right when I failed to protect Sephiroth from Hojo. The fact they're still willing to accept me as their father is something I'm still getting used to," said Vincent. "However I refuse to stand by and watch her suffer simply because you can't make up your own damn mind about how you feel about her. I know what it's like to love someone and watch them from afar as they struggle on their own. She could use some happiness in her life."

Angeal was silent.

"Do you really think I even have a chance?"

"The 'guy rule' about dating your male friend's sister doesn't apply if the friend in question has no problems with it. So long as you don't break her heart I doubt Sephiroth will care overly much," deadpanned Vincent. "Besides, hasn't she already made it clear she has a wing fetish by this point?"

"..."

It wasn't much of a secret that Angeal could get her full and undivided attention every time he brought out his wings. It was something Genesis found _highly_ amusing for reasons of his own, even if she paid almost as much attention to his lone wing.

However whenever Angeal did it, Rena would often be busted staring at him. She could barely kept her hands off his wings, though he didn't mind it when she groomed them. She had a lot of experience caring for sensitive feathers.

Even if he often had to seclude himself for a bit afterwards. Genesis always shot him these _knowing_ looks whenever he did, but he couldn't help it.

(Then again he was unaware of the running bet on how long it was before he snapped and slept with her after a grooming session. A man could only endure so much before he acted on it, and the men were _bored_.)

* * *

 _On Earth..._

Everyone was in shock when Serenity Potter disappeared. No one knew what happened, or what caused such a dramatic change in the otherwise quiet girl. The fact she had _openly_ slaughtered over twenty Death Eaters without hesitation and without magic only made it worse.

However no one could pinpoint exactly _where_ she disappeared to. Let alone what that mysertious green mist was.

It wouldn't be a for a full year until Hermione had some clue what happened.

And it would all be because of a single muggle movie.

The events of that night kept replaying itself over and over in her head, and she had even gotten a small pensieve to replay it properly.

The sight of Serenity suddenly changing was not something she would forget. Or how she summoned that long sword and used it with ruthless efficiency to _kill_ people without qualm. The way her green eyes suddenly went cat-like and almost _glowing_ , or how her hair went from black as night to pale silver the color of moonlight.

It kept bothering her because she would swear she had seen something similar before. And she couldn't remember _why_.

Then one night she came in after getting some new books to read and saw her younger sister watching an animated movie.

"What's that?"

" _Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children_. Basically it takes place a year and a half after the events of the game,"said Juliette. "It's almost over anyway."

Hermione would have gone upstairs to read, except the 'villian' made her pause and stare. He used an odd sword with two blades together and had silver hair and green eyes.

Seeing him suddenly turn into a longer haired man with a _much_ longer and all too familiar sword made her stop cold.

She _knew_ that person.

Hermione sat down to watch the rest of the movie. She normally didn't put much stock into it, as she was a witch after all and games weren't her thing.

"Who is that?"

Juliette gave her an incredulous look.

"Sephiroth, one of the main villains of the game. He's insanely popular and a complete badass," she replied as if her sister was an idiot.

That hair, those eyes, the way he moved.

Hermione _knew_ him, and not just because he was a fictional character.

It only took one glimpse at a now familiar memory before she became certain of it. Especially when she compared the official picture of Sephiroth from _Final Fantasy VII_ to the frozen image of Serenity right before she disappeared. Even the sword was identical.

Then she started looking more into the game itself.

The moment she started reading about the "lifestream" and how it was the collective river of souls that formed as a 'sea green river' around Gaia, things started to slowly form in her mind.

Was it possible the Ministry _accidentally_ tapped into this Lifestream when the Veil was created, and that Serenity was Sephiroth's reincarnation? According to the game he was killed multiple times, only to come back again and again.

Some of the stunts Serenity pulled were very challenging for fully trained adults to survive, much less barely trained children. And yet she not only made it through such 'adventures', but she always came out on top despite the fact Voldemort had several decades worth of experience against her paltry handful.

The idea that Serenity was tapping into her past life to make it through such adventures, combined with the prophecy Dumbledore had given them the full details of made the idea cement inside her head. There might be a chance to reclaim her friend from the Lifestream if they adjusted the summoning correctly. With any luck she would still be able to recognize them, even if she did have all the memories of Sephiroth.

Preferably _before_ he was controlled by this "Jenova".

Besides, it would be a better idea to rely on the One-Winged Angel, who already had experience in war with the odds decidedly against them than an untrained witch who barely had any idea or proper planning behind her. Hermione had to shake her head at the half-assed way Serenity had survived all these years.

Yes, it would be a far better idea for them to rely on Sephiroth than it would be on Serenity. And it would neatly fit the bill for "the power he knows not" that Dumbledore mentioned.

Hopefully she wouldn't be too angry about being summoned back.


	7. Chapter 7

Angeal felt despair. Why would Rena go for a monster like him? He would only hurt her in the end.

Seeing Zack made it a thousand times worse. At some point during the fight in the bathhouse, Zack's sword snapped in half.

His former student looked for something, anything to snap his mentor out of whatever weird spell he was under, until the only thing he could do was pull out his phone.

An idea occurred to him, and he pulled up the video of Rena dressed up in that ridiculous costume. Zack could only pray Sephiroth was right and Angeal liked his twin sister that way. Otherwise he didn't know what else to do in order to keep his mentor from completely losing it.

Hearing Rena's voice seemed to help snap him out of it, a little.

However there was no way Angeal could continue to wield the Buster Sword without feeling as though his honor was being called into question.

He had learned so many horrifying things about the company he once served, and about what was done to them that he couldn't possibly use his family's honor blade without feeling as though he had tainted it.

He left the sword behind, crashing through the roof of the bathhouse and causing most of the remainder to collapse in on itself.

Zack managed to escape, with Angeal's sword in his hand, but there would be no way to retrieve his body.

Then again with the blizzard going on by the time the company _did_ send someone to retrieve it, it would likely be gone anyway.

(Not that Hojo would bother...after all, he had no interest in a 'flawed' specimen, much less a dead one.)

 _Elsewhere..._

When Angeal returned, heart heavy with despair, the only place he could think of going was the room Rena had claimed for herself. He could care less how he looked right now...he just wanted to be by her side.

She had never looked at him like a monster. She understood his sense of honor and might know of a way to redeem himself.

She took one look at him, and pulled him to her bed. Angeal's wings dragged on the floor, not that he cared. She gently coaxed him into lying down, before cuddling up against him and holding him like he was something precious to her.

He just broke down crying into her shoulder, not that she minded. She let him get it all out, stroking his feathers and humming gently while holding him like a child.

When morning came, he had trouble looking her in the eye when he realized he was lying in bed with her next to him.

However she had all the strength of a First, so it was impossible to leave and disappear to parts unknown without her waking up. And right now she had an iron grip around him.

For the next couple of hours, he just laid there and tried to sort out his own thoughts. He wasn't having much luck, as he kept coming back to the fact he was in the same bed as the girl he liked with his wings out.

They had yet to have a proper _date_ , and he was sharing the same bed as her!

"Are you going to continue moping, or are you going to tell me what the hell has been going on in that head of yours?" she asked flatly.

Angeal blinked, before he drooped a little.

Rena made it clear he was _not_ leaving the room without a proper explanation, so he went for a less distracting position of sitting across from her at the small table she had in there.

"I... I have no idea what to do. My sense of honor has been tainted, and I feel as though I've shamed my pride as a warrior after everything I've learned about who I served," said Angeal slowly. "And that's not getting into _these_."

He lifted his wings to show what he meant.

"How am I supposed to move forward with these sins against me?"

" _That's_ what has been bothering you?!" said Rena incredulous.

Angeal flinched.

"For the love of magic... Angeal, the sins of Hojo and the President are _not_ yours to bear! You are a soldier, a man who did his best to serve under his superiors with all the dignity and respect that comes of such a position! The misdeeds and atrocities commited by those higher in rank than you are not yours to atone for," said Rena sternly.

"But..."

"Did you knowing help or aid in committing everything done to the innocent?" she pressed.

"No."

"Did you turn a blind eye to the atrocities committed, despite knowing what would happen if you did?"

"No."

"Did you ever accept a mission or assignment that would force you to infringe upon your code of honor, or force you to break the morals you held yourself and your apprentice to?" she continued.

"No."

"Have you ever done anything that would dishonor yourself or your family's blade by harming those who were helpless against you?"

"Absolutely not! We're supposed to protect the innocent, not act as tyrants against them!" said Angeal, furious she would even ask that.

"Then get your head out of your ass and quit acting as though you are _personally_ responsible for the victims of Hojo and the president's depravity and delusions regarding the Promised Land," said Rena bluntly. "You are just as much a victim as everyone else, even if you willingly signed up to become an attack dog of a company that wasn't everything you thought it was. If you take the easy way out and kill yourself, then you've truly lost what honor you have."

Angeal wanted to deny her words...except what she said made a shocking amount of sense. It forced him to think and think hard about his honor code and his own actions of late.

"Have I really been so blind?"

"Not blind so much as oblivious to the effects Hollander has on you. He's _known_ that there was a problem with his attempts to one-up Hojo for several years now and hasn't done a damn thing to reverse or fix what he's done to you and Genesis. In fact I have yet to see any _real_ signs he's bothered to save Genesis in the least outside of harassing Sephiroth and the remaining SOLDIER's," said Rena. "He's been using you and the others ever since the defection and he doesn't care about the damage it's done to you."

He wanted to deny it, but when he thought back on the missions Hollander had sent him and others on, he realized she was right. He had been using them and they had ignored the signs entirely.

"What do I do now?"

"Live. Take everything one step at a time until you decide what path you're going to take from now on, and move forward. It's harder to do that than it is to take the easy way out and allow others to clean up the mess you made. How do you think Zack would react if he knew you had killed yourself, rather than try to fight on until a new path opened for you?" she replied.

Angeal winced. His death would devastate his student and leave a void in him that would never be filled.

* * *

"What did you do to Angeal that has him following you like some sort of lost puppy?" asked Genesis bluntly.

"I called him on his self-defeating bullshit and made him get his head out of his ass. He's apparently decided that I must have a decent idea of how to move forward from the illusions he's held about his actions, so he's been sticking close to me," she replied. "He's almost broken, and he's desperately trying to find something, anything that would help him heal."

Genesis hated seeing Angeal like this. However even he would admit she had a point. He was lost and unsure about what to do next.

And while Rena was damaged, she still had a much better idea of what to do than any of them did. It hadn't taken much to leave the bulk of the ex-SOLDIER's under her care, and she had them doing quite a few 'missions' to keep them busy and out of trouble, while giving them some sense of purpose.

The fact she looked and felt like Sephiroth made it easier for them to follow her lead. So long as they felt they were doing _something_ , rather than wandering around without a plan, most of the men would follow her lead without question.

"Just don't break him completely. He's the only family I have left," said Genesis.

"That's the last thing I want. I would rather have him damaged, but whole rather than some broken puppet who followed me without question," said Rena.

That being said, the fact he had taken to curling up against her at night was making her _very_ frustrated.

* * *

It was a normal 'grooming' session for his wings.

Except this time Angeal was shivering with each stroke of her hand, and Rena took notice.

"Hey Angeal... have you always been this bothered when I clean your wings properly?"

None of the guys bothered to do it properly...they just saw their wings (or wing, in Genesis' case) as a burden rather than something beautiful. So they were more than happy to let Rena indulge in cleaning them and straightening the feathers out in their stead. It made her happy, and it wasn't like they cared, so it worked out.

However it was impossible to miss the fact Angeal had a hard-on from the way she was stroking his wings.

Angeal's eyes were glazed a bit, but the idea of leaving and not embarassing himself further in front of her never crossed his mind.

So when she came to look at him in the face, he couldn't really help his reaction.

He kissed her.

Rena blushed the moment she registered it, but didn't back away or leave the room. So he took it as a sign to continue, and deliberately wrapped his still damp wings around her possessively.

Their breathing intensified, as the feelings both of them had been holding back on exploded inside them.

Rena put a single hand against his face.

"Just so we're clear, if we do this then I am not letting you go. Ever. I will hunt you down and force you to listen to reason if you try anything as stupid as you did before again."

"I am perfectly okay with that," said Angeal. His hands carefully undid the braid she usually kept her hair in to make it a bit more manageable, causing it to flow in waves.

Unlike Sephiroth's hair, Rena's had a bit more of a curl to it from the fact she didn't just let it flow naturally. Sure, it was a hassle but one she put up with.

Soon all thoughts of the consequences of what they were doing were put aside for more important things.

 _The next morning..._

Genesis knocked, before waiting a few moments. Then he walked in...after all, he had announced his presence enough to fit Rena's usual standards and given her enough time to at least find cover if she was getting dressed or something.

So when he registered what he was looking at on the bed, a wicked and relieved grin filled his features.

"It's about freaking _time_!"

There, under the covers was a sleepy Rena and a far more relaxed Angeal...and neither of them had any clothes. Those were strewn about the floor.

Rena glared at Genesis.

"Do you _mind_?"

"Are you kidding me? It's about time you two quit dancing around each other!" said Genesis with glee. "We've been waiting for you two to act on the fact you clearly have a thing for each other for months!"

"'We'?" she repeated dangerously.

"Me, Vincent, half of the bored SOLDIERs who came with me..." said Genesis grinning. "Hell, there's been an ongoing betting pool about it."

"Genesis... you have exactly ten seconds to get your red-haired ass out of my room before I hex you to hell and back," growled Rena.

"For this, I'll make sure the two of you are undisturbed for at least three days," he cackled, before closing the door.

Rena pointedly hit it with a locking charm, only to noticed a half-awake, but bemused Angeal next to her.

She could clearly feel what his intentions were since Genesis would insure they remained unbothered for a few days. And to be honest, they had a _lot_ of things to work out before they had a serious talk about their newly formed relationship.

Setting boundaries could wait until tomorrow at best.

On an unrelated note, Vincent won the betting pool to his amusement.

Sephiroth looked at the text he got, before a smirk appeared on his face.

"Fair, in my office. Now," he ordered.

Zack had been down since Angeal's death, and had been mostly functioning on autopilot for the past month.

"What do you want sir?"

"I have two pieces of good news, and one piece of somewhat irritating news," said Sephiroth.

"What's the good news?" he asked, slightly curious but still down.

"The good news is that Angeal is alive and that he's finally gotten together with Rena," said Sephiroth. "Also Vincent apparently won the betting pool on how long it was until those two ended up in bed together."

It took a few seconds for that to process, but once it did the shock and relief on Zack's face made up for it.

"Angeal's alive?"

"And dating my sister, finally."

"So what's the irritating news?"

"Once they find out he's not dead, the orders to kill him are going to come back," said Sephiroth. "Also I'm giving you standing permission to come with me when I 'stumble' across them and decide to chase that idiot mentor of yours with Masamune for taking my sister's virtue away."

Zack, once he processed that comment started cackling.

"I am so punching him in the face for that stunt he pulled at the bathhouse though," said Zack.

"Considering the effect it had on you, I highly doubt he'll try to stop you. He does deserve that sort of punishment for his stupidity and reckless behavior," agreed Sephiroth. "However I have doubts he'll want his sword back. If I know Angeal he deliberately left that behind for you to take and keep."

Zack nodded. At this point he didn't really want to give it back all that much anyway.


	8. Chapter 8

**Just to let you know, there IS a sequel in the works and I hint at what the crossover will be in this chapter!**

* * *

As a 'reward' for helping him to win the betting pool, Vincent was taking Rena out weapon shopping. Her current sword was about due to be replaced, as she had yet to find that 'one' weapon that would serve her for the rest of her life.

Angeal had been making do with Buster Sword copies, as he had decided Zack was more worthy of his family's honor blade than he was. He could live with sub-par replacements.

Vincent had his guns, Genesis had his rapier, and Sephiroth had Masamune. However Rena still hadn't found the weapon that called to her in such a way that she knew she could rely on it completely.

To that end, they were shopping at an out of the way weapons store that Vincent had found. Fortunately with the red hair dye she had put in, no one mistook her for Sephiroth. The fact it made her resemble Lucrecia surprised Vincent a little though.

Rena ignored the longer blades and the ones that were in the main store. With a bit of bribery, they were taken to the special stock for weapons no one really used anymore, or needed more maintenance than they were currently worth.

It was when she spotted an odd handle hidden behind some boxes that she found it.

It was primarily silver and upon closer inspection almost looked like a very odd-shaped key. There was a broken link of chain at the hilt that looked like it was missing something at the bottom.

It felt incomplete to her senses, but at the same time right in her hand.

"How much is this?" she asked.

She could feel it in her bones...this was _her_ weapon.

Vincent gave the odd blade a Look, but said nothing. Rena went through blades often enough, after all.

"Two-thousand gil."

"That's robbery," said Vincent. "I won't pay a single coin over fifteen."

"Seventeen fifty then."

"Fifteen," repeated Vincent, not budging.

Rena kept looking through the shelves, until she found a keychain half buried under some rusted Kunai and daggers. She felt her magic sing and somehow she _knew_ it belonged on the weapon she picked out.

Hearing the grumbling of the shopkeeper, she quietly slipped the keychain in her pocket.

She was quite pleased with her new weapon, and she had the feeling it was going to have quite a few surprises to it.

 _A short while later..._

"What the heck is that thing? It looks more like a toy than a proper weapon!" said Genesis laughing.

Rena glared at him, and without thinking slashed downward while thinking of a massive fireball.

She _felt_ her magic drain as if she was casting a "Fira" spell, and Genesis had to yelp as he dodged the resulting fireball.

Everyone stared at the blade in her hand.

"What. The. Hell," said Genesis in shock.

A wicked grin appeared on her face. She didn't even have any materia equipped to this new weapons of hers, not that it had any slots for it.

She tried a "thunder" spell.

Genesis yelped, as he narrowly avoided the lightning.

"This...has potential. And it means I won't have to keep switching out materia all the time!" she said with glee.

After some rather extensive testing, she concluded that her new weapon would allow her to cast all of the 'basic' elemental spells, as well as nearly all the white magic spells without any materia required. In fact, the only thing it couldn't let her do without materia was Summon, but with her new weapon she could easily free up space in her equipment to make up for that lack.

The evil cackling she let loose would have given anyone else nightmares. Instead Genesis was whining because he wanted to cast without having to switch around materia all the time too!

And when she attached the odd keychain to the blade on the chain that hung loosely from the hilt, she was mildly surprised to see it change form.

The 'new' blade allowed her to cast spells with a minor decrease in magic cost, which was very nice bonus in her opinion.

Another bonus was that she was able to summon the blade from anywhere the same way Sephiroth could with Masamune. And that it was _very_ picky about who was allowed to hold it. Every time Genesis or Angeal tried to hold it to see the balance, the thing would disappear and she would have to 'resummon' it to her hand. Which meant that the odds of someone being able to use it against her dropped dramatically.

She was quite pleased with her new sword.

* * *

Sephiroth was in a somewhat foul mood. For some _inane_ reason the Science Department (meaning Hojo) wanted him to investigate the Nibelhiem reactor because of 'suspicious rumors' that Genesis was in the area.

Angeal, for the most part, had not resurfaced though Sephiroth knew damn well his old friend was still very much alive. He was just sticking close to Rena at the moment and avoiding the public eye.

That, or Rena had worked some of her odd magic to insure no one recognized him...the lucky bastard.

(Sephiroth had never taken off the bracelet since confirming it allowed him to wander around freely without the damn Silver Elite stalking him.)

He was _not_ in the mood to go traipsing around in the snow and Gaia-knew what else just to check a reactor.

Why did he still work for these morons again?

Oh, yes, he remembered now. He was, as Rena had jokingly put it during one of her visits, a masochist.

He sighed, and went for his coffee. Which was empty.

His urge to brutally murder someone only rose.

Then a far more wicked idea came to mind.

If he had to suffer through this "mandatory" mission where "Sephiroth" was _vital_ for it to succeed, then he was damn well going to drag others into his misery.

And he wasn't going to limit it to "still-employed" minions either. Oh no, he was going to drag his sister and her group into it as well just to make them suffer with him.

Mind made up, Sephiroth began preparations.

Besides, he still needed to chase Angeal around with his sword for defiling his sister, even if she was _very_ happy he had finally gotten off his ass and done something about it.

He did not want to know about his sister (or Angeal's, for that matter) sex life, nor did he care to ask. So long as she was happy, he would remain ignorant of what they did in the bedroom.

* * *

 _Four days later..._

"Remind me again why we're going to this backwater hell known as Nibelhiem?" asked Genesis in a whine, before he sneezed.

SOLDIER enhancements or not, Nibelhiem was freeze your ass off cold.

"Because Sephiroth wants to chase Angeal with his sword for a couple of hours for 'defiling' me with Zack videotaping it, and Angeal owes Zack a punch for all the trauma he put his student through," said Rena. Did not change the fact she was shamelessly sharing body heat with said man who had his wings wrapped around her. "That and Sephiroth wanted to 'spread the misery' in his words considering Hojo made it clear he _had_ to come inspect the reactor for you."

"Why in the name of the Goddess would I come _here_?" deadpanned Genesis. "I mean it's the middle of bum-fuck nowhere and outside of being the first reactor there's nothing _interesting_ about it! Besides, after we did that blood transfusion I haven't had to worry about Degeneration, so there's no need to bother coming here to where the original 'cells' were found."

They had found quite by accident really when checking _her_ "J-Cell" levels, that for some reason all traces of "the Calamity" (as Chaos called Jenova) were either dead or rendered inert due to some odd anomaly in her bloodstream. More importantly was the fact that the same anomaly destroyed J-Cells on contact when applied.

The only thing she could figure out was that for some reason, Jenova _really_ didn't like Basilisk venom or Phoenix Tears...possibly _both_...in her blood stream. That plus the fact she never had any injections of fresh "J-cells" after her birth meant that the ones present in her body never stood a chance as she had to adapt to the presence of basilisk venom in her bloodstream.

Closer inspection revealed that the chip of fang still present in her arm kept the venom _very_ fresh and killed off any further 'intrusions' of Jenova's cells in her body.

With that in mind...and a quick call to Fawkes, who had either bonded with her or liked her enough to appear anyway... they had attempted an experiment involving a direct blood transfusion after confirming that there wouldn't be an immediate rejection due to incompatible blood types.

Rena, Sephiroth and Vincent were apparently "universal donors", meaning that their blood was compatible with a higher number of people.

After the transfusion, Genesis had started vomiting up some sort of black sludge and was unable to do more than blink for a full day and a half.

However once the worst of the fever was over and his body purged the bad cells in him, he felt a thousand times better than before.

Oddly enough, when he released his wing he had been very startled to discover he had somehow grown a second, which meant he no longer looked quite so lopsided. He also found that his magic had gained an unexpected boost in power...and closer testing revealed he could now cast the same spells Rena could, when before he couldn't at all.

Angeal was very quick to volunteer for the procedure as well, and spent two days being nursed by his very unhappy girlfriend. However like Genesis, he came out feeling far better and able to cast her brand of magic with no issue.

(On an unrelated note, he was going to ask Vincent and Sephiroth's permission to marry Rena once things had settled down enough for it. He was head over heels in love with her.)

Vincent, on the other hand, took the longest to recover. Chaos was quite pleased by the fact that the "Calamity" had been purged from the body, and for some unknown reason the entire thing had managed to remove one of the 'voices' in his head permanently.

The avatar of Chaos was beyond relieved that the transfusion managed to either seal Hellmasker, or at somehow remove that particular manifestation from his soul. Out of the 'voices', that part of him had always been the most dangerous and indiscriminate when it came to murdering everyone in his path as brutally and painfully as possible.

The second Rena saw Sephiroth, she beamed and hugged him tightly. Sephiroth awkwardly returned it.

Then his eyes narrowed on Angeal.

"Zack, do you want to have a word with your mentor before or after I chase him around?" asked Sephiroth.

Zack stared at Angeal, who looked a lot more relaxed and calm than he had the last time they saw each other.

Then he punched the man so hard that he nearly broke his jaw.

"You bastard. What the hell was that crap you said before about?" he said, trying not to cry with relief.

Angeal winced, and not just from pain.

"I was in a dark place. I thought I was responsible for the atrocities we discovered had been going on under our very noses, and that I had to atone for the sin of working under that fat president. Rena had to smack some sense into me before I realized I shouldn't hold myself accountable for the actions of others, especially since they deliberately kept me in the dark," said Angeal. "On that note, what exactly did you do with Hollander?"

Rena's smirk was positively evil.

"Oh, just a little _historical_ justice, Earth-style. Dad helped, since it was rather hard to keep that fat pig alive long enough to get the 'point' across without him managing to get free," said Rena innocently.

No one believed that innocent smile.

Angeal looked at Vincent.

"You're better off not knowing. Genesis had the bright idea to follow us and even _he_ had trouble stomaching it," said Vincent flatly. He gave Rena an odd look. "And I still want to know where the hell you even _heard_ of such a death."

"Like I said before, it's been used on Earth in the distant past. If he hadn't pissed me off so much with those looks he kept giving me when he found out I had all the enhancements of a First _and_ that I still had my period, I might have let him die quickly. As it is, I have a few more if you want to insure Hojo understands exactly how much you 'enjoyed' his experiments."

Vincent was in his happy place, because if the slow and agonizing death she had put Hollander through was a relatively 'quick, if painful' way for you to murder your enemies, then he was _very_ interested in some of the other "graphic deaths" she knew about.

Sephiroth looked at his sister in wariness.

She whispered what they did to Hollander, making him pale slightly before he remembered her comment about the looks he gave her.

Hollander was _almost_ as depraved as Hojo, hearing how they killed the scientist was detail enough.

(She performed a Blood Eagle and then performed the same treatment that gave Vlad Tepes the name "Vlad the Impaler".)

Zack almost dropped the phone twice when Sephiroth drew Masamune.

"I'm giving you a fifteen-second head start."

Angeal started running.

On the plus side, the chase got their blood pumping that they no longer felt most of the cold. Though Rena refused to cuddle with Angeal until he had washed off the worst of the sweat.


	9. Chapter 9

**I apologize in advance if the fight scene sucks. I have no luck in that area, so I tried to make it as quick and painless as possible to advance the plot. You have been warned.**

* * *

The _second_ Hojo saw the female version of Sephiroth, he KNEW who it was.

He had not forgotten the fact Lucrecia had twins, or that the girl had somehow mysteriously disappeared without warning shortly after they were born.

He was so close to his perfect experiment becoming complete...he would not let the flawed specimen that was Sephiroth's twin taint it further than it already had. The fact it had managed to attach itself to the other flawed specimens (particularly Angeal) did not change his opinion.

Then another thought crossed his mind. The female might be flawed, but she was still of the same genetic stock as his perfect experiment. If she somehow managed to retain her ability to procreate, then she could be invaluable as a breeding tool.

With that in mind, he prepared to capture to determine her potential worth as a specimen.

 _Outside the reactor..._

Rena shivered.

"Okay, that was weird. I felt as though someone was dancing on my grave while my corpse was being held in a jar and leered at by some pervert," she said suddenly.

Dead silence.

"What?" she asked.

"That was oddly specific and extremely disturbing," said Genesis, voicing their thoughts on the matter.

"...It also sounds like Hojo might be at the reactor, which would explain why the mission parameters insisted I come personally," said Sephiroth after a moment.

"Which means he likely saw me, and that would definitely explain the weird crawling sensation I just felt," scowled Rena. "If that is the case, does anyone have any objections to me using graphic violence that will almost certainly make every guy here cringe at being on the other end of it?"

There was a collective "No" at that, and an oddly hopeful request to join in via Sephiroth.

As they entered the facility, every hair on Rena's arms began to crawl. It was majorly disturbing.

The feeling got a thousand times worse when they found the pods.

"Is anyone else creeped out?" asked Zack. Now he was very glad they had left Cloud back in town. The poor kid wasn't ready to see crap like this.

"I'm more sickened than creeped out, but thank you for asking," said Rena dryly. Though there was no hiding the disgust in her voice. "On an unrelated note, does this scream 'major set-up' or is it just me?"

"...I wish I could say it was just you, but I'm starting to get that vibe too," admitted Sephiroth. "And I have the sneaking suspicion I'm supposed to be the main target."

"Ugh. We are so killing that obnoxious troll before we leave, head scientist be damned."

Vincent perked up at that, for obvious reasons.

As they inspected the place, the thought of a set-up only became more obvious.

Finally they were unable to avoid the room where the "fossil" was laying in wait.

Sephiroth had a monumental headache and it only got worse the further in they went.

For a moment, things seemed fine.

He blacked out in time to hear Rena yelp as they were attacked.

* * *

 _Rena POV_

Hojo was even creepier up close than he was from pictures and video.

Seeing the vial in his hands, she tried to fight him off... unfortunately he still managed to stick her with the needle, which began injecting some sort of pink fluid into her that burned _almost_ as bad as the Cruciatus at full power.

She hated that she could make that comparison, and had the sneaking suspicion he was injecting her with Jenova cells for some reason. _Undiluted_ Jenova cells at that.

She was so disoriented that she couldn't stop herself from being knocked into an open mako pod, or push the door open as it began to fill with green liquid.

She was submerged in minutes, and fell into a weird sort of zen state that reminded her far too much of being under the Imperius.

She kept hearing a weird voice speaking to her, trying to claim it was her mother.

Serenity had been through a lot of shit in her life... but she wasn't stupid enough to fall for such an _obvious_ tactic. She had heard Lucrecia's voice from the video, and knew Vincent was her real birth father. She had heard her adopted parents die in defense of her life.

She refused to believe this alien _parasite_ had anything pleasant in mind for her. It was a more insidious and seductive version of that bastard Voldemort.

Inside the tank, Serenity's eye opened and began to glow in an ominous way.

 _Get out of my head, you bitch. This is_ my _body and I'll be_ damned _if I let your pathetic excuse for mind control take over ME. Keep your claws out of what's MINE._

Jenova _screamed_ in fury and agony, as Serenity threw her will and magic behind those words.

Serenity's spirit had been tempered by pain, loss, love, and pure stubbornness. To a hive mind like Jenova, she was the _worst_ enemy the parasite could have encountered, because she knew _exactly_ what she could do and wasn't foolish enough to believe in paltry things like limitations when inside her own mind.

She forcibly shoved Jenova's mind out of her own, before forcibly following the link the parasite had left open from the entry provided by that fool Hojo when he injected her with fresh cells.

Inside the tank, her body burned both from power and the slight resonance she had with the Mako.

So many forgot that Mako was the liquid form of the Lifestream, where all souls reside. And thanks to the Potter bloodline she inherited from James through the rituals (and to a greater extent, the Potter family cloak) she had an affinity for soul magic.

She broke free of the tank...and feathers filled the air as she developed wings. Not just a single wing though... she grew a proper pair of them that were a silvery-white almost the same shade as her hair.

Sensing Jenova's attack on her brother's mind, and seeing Sephiroth going after Angeal with less skill than she had after a year of using a sword, Rena snarled.

Sephiroth was _hers_. Angeal was _hers_.

This bitch was going to pay.

Rena dove into her bond with Sephiroth, and followed the link of shared blood into his mind.

She could see her brother's mental avatar being clouded by Jenova's true form.

" _Oh_ HELL _no. Get your fucking claws off my brother, you bitch!"_ said Rena, drawing her blade and unleashing the Black Battle Madness on the parasite.

Jenova shrieked as Serenity lashed out at her, not holding back an inch against the parasite.

Sephiroth's mind began to clear, at least enough to recognize his other half.

He didn't need more than a split second to make a decision. He loaned his strength behind Serenity's mental blows and allowed her to guide the attacks since she clearly knew more about what she was doing in this sort of field than he did.

The sycronicity that came from the twin bond made caused an odd effect in their magic. It began bouncing off each other in a never ending loop, growing stronger with each repetition.

Outside their mental battlefield, Sephiroth stumbled and grew a pair of pitch black wings.

Nearby Zack was being restrained by both Vincent and Genesis. Out of the group, the biggest threat was Sephiroth, but Zack came a close second since he hadn't been purged of the tainted cells after being upgraded to First.

His eyes flashed, before Rena and Sephiroth turned their attention to him and he stopped struggling entirely.

The hive mind had a new Queen, and the link to Jenova had been forcibly severed and replaced.

Hojo was _pissed_.

"No! How dare you interrupt Reunion!"

Rena turned her attention to him, and he felt a chill of Death go down his spine.

Even _he_ knew when his forces were outnumbered, though he would not forget the blazing eyes of the twins.

Rena started launching fireballs at him, though he still managed to escape with Jenova.

* * *

Zack was worried about Cloud. They had left him and three other infantry to guard the village while the two Firsts went to the reactor.

As they reached the village, he _knew_ instinctively something had gone horribly wrong.

Call him crazy, but last he checked the infantry they had brought were supposed to be on guard and _not_ on the ground either passed out or dead.

Zack started looking for the familiar chocobo-haired kid he had basically taken under his wing, only to come up empty.

It was Tifa who enlightened him to the _worst_ news possible.

She had seen a man who fit Hojo's general description with an odd tube of some sort and he had taken one of the men Sephiroth had ordered to stand ready in town with him.

And the only one missing was Cloud.

Zack was already dialing on his PHS.

"Big trouble... Cloud's been taken!"

* * *

It said a lot about Rufus Shinra that when Sephiroth approached him with the possibility of becoming President in exchange for looking the other way when they killed Hojo and allowed Genesis and the men that he took with him back with a slap on the wrist, that he hadn't hesitated to take the offer.

After all, he didn't particularly like Hojo that much to begin with and the dubious idea of finding some Promised Land when there were more profitable ideas to try had never made much sense to him. The fact it wouldn't be traced back to him in any way was just a bonus, even if it meant ignoring the fact he was basically signing his father's death sentence in return.

There were a few things that would have to happen for them to let Rufus take over though.

He had to allow Genesis and a number of men forcibly shut down Deepground, because if _that_ ever got out it would ruin him. Experimenting on children, POW's and innocent civilians would only make him look bad when the program was exposed, even if it was the soon-to-be dead President's idea to begin with.

Rufus was intelligent enough to let them do almost anything they wanted in exchange for being President, within reason. Though he would have to do something about the Reactors, because if they kept running they were going to make the planet become quite literally uninhabitable in less than a few decades and he kinda wanted his reign to last longer than that.

Sure it meant less money, but once they gutted the Science department's budget to something far more sensible odds were they'd recoup a good chunk of it quickly enough to salvage what was left.

Once they had Rufus Shinra in their corner, Rena slipped into the building using Sephiroth's codes and a minor spell to hide her bust.

Since no one was aware of his twin sister outside of vague and unproven rumors, no one would suspect her to be anything other than the general himself.

Walking into the President's office was even easier, since he wanted the report of the Nibelhiem incident _personally_.

Rena had to fight her shiver of absolute disgust. The fat pig deserved what was coming to him, and she was just glad she got to be the one to deal with him rather than Sephiroth. He would have just gutted him to be done with it, regardless of the fact he would get into so much trouble for it.

One perk to being raised in another world... it opened up so many possibilities when it came to disposing of enemies.

In this case she had managed to breed a basilisk from _her_ world, though it had taken a lot of trial and error. Oddly enough it took the combination of a Touch Me and an almost dead Chocobo egg to create what she was looking for... the horror on Zack's face alone when he found out she had discovered a new use for his _least_ favorite monster had been rather amusing.

Or would have been, if Cloud wasn't still missing.

On the plus side, she got a new pet out of the deal and her new snake was _very_ obedient.

Rena quietly hissed under her breath to the snake hiding in her sleeve to come out _just_ enough so that the President got the full brunt of it's special eyes. It's venom wasn't potent enough _yet_ to kill anyone with the time frame they were looking for, but the eyes were fully effective at birth.

The President's body siezed up, and she quickly called in his bodyguards in "alarm". As there was nothing coating the papers and parseltongue sounded more like the hissing of pipes on video, it was unlikely anyone would figure out _she_ was the killer. Besides, her little snake was well hidden by her sleeve.

There was no physical evidence to connect her to the crime, which was the main point of why she had done it. More importantly it would be _impossible_ to prove foul play.

Once the autopsy was done, Rufus had his father declared dead by "natural causes", which in his case was a heart attack. No one could really prove otherwise and he hadn't even been in the room at the time. After all, why would he help _Sephiroth_ kill his own father?

On an unrelated note, Veld almost had a heart attack of his own when Vincent showed up. Though he did choke on his bourbon when his ex-partner told him the truth behind the female Sephiroth rumors...and who the twin's birth father was.

* * *

 _A few days later..._

Angeal was in a good mood, even if he wasn't particular happy with what had gone on under the President's approval before Rena killed him.

Then again Sephiroth and Vincent had more than approved of him asking to marry Rena.

Rufus, being far more quick on the uptake than his father had ever been, had promptly said he would pay for the ceremony and honeymoon as both a thank you (for killing his father and giving him the position) and a bribe (to avoid a similar fate) the second he found out.

Rena had been highly amused, as had Sephiroth.

Though nothing topped the expressions on nearly _everyone's_ faces when Rena first walked into the company without any spells or disguises (she had the same access as her brother, again thanks to Rufus), waltzed right up to where Angeal was taking a break from sparring with Zack (he was still worried about Cloud), and kissed him full on the mouth in full view of EVERYONE.

The news that the "female Sephiroth" was in the building went viral in less than an hour. It was soon followed by the fact Sephiroth had apparently known this would happen, and had thus been there to clarify a few things for everyone else.

"Really Serenity, did you have to break him so soon after they were allowed to return? I know he's your fiancee but I was rather hoping my twin sister wouldn't make things harder for me on their first day back," drawled Sephiroth loudly enough for most of those in the training room to hear. With the door open (she hadn't bothered to close it) the people who had been discreetly stalking her heard everything and it spread like wildfire.

Rena smirked.

"Are you afraid I'll cause the poor, weak little minds of the fan clubs to snap at the thought of there being two of us, brother?" her smirk turned vicious. "Then again, your fan club has been my favorite group to use as target practice when bored."

Dead silence. It had become fact that the "female Sephiroth" _loathed_ the Silver Elite and used them as target practice for her spellcraft.

Sephiroth's smirk was evil.

"Just leave some of them for me, Rena," said Sephiroth. "And try to leave him in one piece for tomorrow."

"I make no promises outside of testing his stamina," she shot back.

Zack's concern over Cloud was briefly eclipsed by the sheer Chaos Rena just left in her wake. All he knew was that his former mentor was more than happy to leave with her for the day. It was pretty obvious what she intended to do with him.

"Hey Zack, who the hell was that?" demanded Kunsel.

"Serenity Valentine, Sephiroth's missing twin sister," said Zack. "And Angeal's new fiancee."

"...Twin sister?" said Kunsel in shock.

"Apparently someone kidnapped her shortly after they were born, and she only managed to track him down because people kept bothering her about looking so much like Seph. So they had a DNA test done, and wouldn't you know it, there was enough of a match to prove she was his twin sister."

"...Wouldn't mako alter the results?" asked Kunsel curious.

"There was some interference, but from what I was told there was enough normal material to work with. They found out who ther father was completely by accident..." said Zack.

It wasn't long before news spread that Sephiroth had an almost identical twin sister, and that she was Angeal's fiancee to make the rounds. The Keepers of Honor (Angeal's rabid fan club) mourned the fact that he would no longer be available.

The Silver Elite were torn between creating a new division (since Sephiroth's sister looked so much like their idol), and hating her on sight (because she still used them for target practice).

Needless to say Rena was a very amused witch, and Vincent was having a much easier time with Chaos who couldn't stop cackling at the anarchy and discord his daughter was sowing in her wake.

He was so proud of her!


	10. Chapter 10

It had been nearly three years since Serenity Potter disappeared. It had taken two of them before Hermione managed to find a possibly lead on where she disappeared to...and a way to hopefully bring her back.

Of course she might not be _entirely_ the same as she was before. From what they could tell, she might have been tapping into a past life in order to make it as far as she had.

Which meant that past life might be in full effect when they brought her home.

The summoning circle would be complete soon. They could only hope they were able to bring back their general, because things had only gotten worse with the death of Dumbledore.

Hermione stared at the ritual circle with excitement, hope, and no small amount of trepidation.

She could only pray they got this right...they couldn't afford to be wrong when the Dark Lord was running around without anyone to hold his power in check. And the Order was less than useless without a leader.

All too soon, it was time.

Hermione had to wait for baited breath and started praying to anyone she thought would hear her that this summoning would work and she would have her friend back.

* * *

 _In Midgar..._

If there was one thing Sephiroth could unequivocally claim was the absolute bane of his existence, it was the thrice-damned paperwork.

Fortunately Rufus was _far_ more reasonable than his father so he wasn't drowning in useless reports and assignments, but it was still pretty damn bad.

It had been seven months since the incident in the Nibelhiem reactor, and a few things had changed.

First and foremost, the existence of his twin was now public knowledge, as was the fact she had married Angeal Hewley. They had spent their entire honeymoon in Costa de Sol in the villa previously owned by the now dead President.

Rufus had been _all_ too happy to let that particular place go as he wasn't exactly fond of it to begin with and it doubled as his honeymoon present. That it also served as a discreet bribe to the woman who had basically helped to clear the path to his new position was just an amusing after thought.

Sephiroth still found it highly amusing that the bribery was working. Rena definitely liked him far more than she had his father and was thus less likely to kill him without any trace of the cause. (That, and he had _heard_ of what she did to Hollander and wanted to firmly stay on her good side!)

The words on the paper were swimming around his eyes. He was just glad his sister was back in Midgar with her new husband. Angeal was both competent as a leader...and he did his paperwork promptly enough that he could help with the workload.

Now if only that damn Hojo would oblige and come out of whatever rock he crawled under with Cloud and Jenova so they could brutally murder that damn troll and free the poor kid he kidnapped.

It was bad enough they found he had been holding a rather unusual representative of Cosmo Canyon hostage as an experiment that he had grown bored with in one of the many basements.

Nanaki was quite happy to act as the discreet bodyguard of Aerith Gainsborough. With Hojo now persona non grata to the company after discovering exactly how _much_ of the funding he had been more or less wasting with his ridiculous experiments (Rufus had been all too willing to sign the man's execution order on the audit report alone when he found out how much money had been lost to Hojo's so-called research which did absolutely nothing to make them money), it meant that the number of places he could hide was rather limited.

Sephiroth had taken particular pleasure in ordering specialized teams with SOLDIERs and Turks to raid the known labs in order to further limit the man's available hiding spots even further.

Hojo had become a cancer the company could ill afford, and Rufus was all too happy to pin the blame where it rightfully belonged when word started getting out of their discoveries.

His public image was of a son trying to clean up after his father's delusions of adequacy and bring Shin-Ra Electric Company to a far more "civilized" time, rather than waste their time experimenting on their customers for no reason.

He was already planning to send Serenity as their new "head of public relations" into Wutai to hopefully mend the bridges burned by the pointless war. The fact she was Sephiroth's twin sister and looked so much like him would make things tricky, but she was a very sensible young woman and had an open personality that appealed to nearly everyone.

Except fan girls/boys. Head of public relations or not, she still used anyone who outed themselves as a "fan/stalker" as target practice for her fireballs.

He was heading to get some actual food (the bracelet made it possible for him to eat in peace without being bothered by the Silver Elite, which he took full advantage of) when he felt something strange happening.

His head was spinning, and it felt as though the world was about to tilt on it's axis.

He could register the cries of alarm, and vaguely saw a strange circle appear underneath him without any warning at all. There was a distinct feeling of something _yanking_ on his magical core, and the feel of alarm that came from the strange "hive mind" that connected him to his sister...among others.

They had gotten used to the hive mind/collective that had been created entirely by accident as a result of the Nibelhiem Reactor incident, and the fact that Serenity was the 'core' of it, at least for the most part.

So long as he never had to deal with Jenova taking control over his body again without his permission (a fact shared by the other men), he could care less if his sister had become some sort of strange "queen bee" and could pull them into a mental conference room with very little say-so on their end.

He had to pity Angeal a little though. There was no way he'd be able to hide anything from his new wife with them being part of a hive mind.

Back to the circle though.

Sephiroth vaguely recalled at the last moment, before whatever it was took effect, what Rena told him about how she had been _found_ in the other world.

A ritual circle with exhausted mages and very little input on her end when it came to the destination or the summoning.

When his eyes opened, the first thing he saw was...exhausted mages, a ritual circle, and the distinct feeling of _magic._

All it took was seeing a young woman who fit the general description of "Hermione Granger", and he suddenly had a very general idea of what happened.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh, cry, or just plain pity these wizards. Serenity was going to be so vexed with them.

He did have to wonder why they summoned _him_ instead of his sister, considering he had never met any of them before in his _life_.

With any luck he would have a chance to take a much needed nap and not have to deal with abject stupidity.

He wasn't going to hold his breath out for that though.

* * *

 _Back in Midgar_

"What. Happened."

Rena Hewley was _not_ happy. Her brother had quite literally vanished into thin air without any warning in the middle of the building surrounded by people and no less than four Turks nearby, and no one had a solid idea of what the hell was going on.

However the _second_ she saw the circle underneath her twin, she openly groaned with annoyance.

"Gods be damned wizards! I should have _known_ they would insist on dragging me back to clean up after them!" she said with such disgust and annoyance that it was clear she knew exactly what happened.

Rufus looked at her with seriousness.

"What is going on?"

"You know the story of how I disappeared?"

"You were kidnapped three days after you and your brother were born, only to track him down sixteen years later," Rufus repeated.

"That was just me giving you a general outline. The full story is that some idiot on another planet managed to tap into the Lifestream, and someone had the _brilliant_ idea to use a summoning circle without a materia to bring something from it. Since I never found out _what_ they were trying to summon, I can only imagine the same thing happened here. And before you get any ideas of trying to exploit this other planet, I feel obligated to warn you that they have weapons that would render large chunks of land completely uninhabitable for _centuries_ and will kill anyone who tries to live on said land in a slow and agonizing fashion," said Rena bluntly.

Rufus blinked at that.

"What."

"Imagine if someone found a way to _weaponize_ pure, undiluted Mako and have it cover a large area with absolutely no way to defend yourself if you were caught in the blast zone. Complete with the force of Sephiroth's limit break multiplied by at least a thousand," said Rena.

Rufus wasn't the only one to shudder at that wonderful mental image. It definitely did the trick of dissuading him from trying to exploit this other planet if they had such weapons in their arsenal.

He very much _enjoyed_ living, thank you.

"So where is Sephiroth?"

"When I found my way back here after I was taken, we were in the very beginning of a civil war between magic users that was restarting after a decade long ceasefire. No doubt _something_ has happened to tip the scales too much in the favor of the wrong parties, so naturally they would have to find a way to drag me back whether I wanted to help them or not," said Rena rolling her eyes.

That made Angeal frown.

"Why Sephiroth though?"

"They might have latched on to the wrong twin. After all, I had no idea that I had a twin brother until I came here. Which means they would have no idea either," said Rena with a shrug.

"Is there any way to get him back?" asked Rufus seriously.

"If they can summon him there, then there _must_ be a way between our worlds. We just have to find it. Fortunately it was Sephiroth they summoned, so odds are he should be fine when we get there. They're such idiots that it wouldn't take _that_ long to resolve things and return home," said Rena with confidence. "Hell, any number of the Thirds or even the Turks could handle the _strongest_ either side has to offer so long as they don't lose their common sense and keep their wits about them."

"Who are you taking with you?"

"Angeal, Genesis and Vincent. And that's general overkill considering Sephiroth is already there as well. Besides, this will teach Zack not to leave his paperwork until the last minute," said Rena promptly.

"No Turks?" said Rufus, only partially joking. After all, Vincent was an ex-Turk turned trainer.

"Unless Tseng would be willing to spare Reno and Rude..." said Rena.

"Done," said Tseng without hesitation. Reno had been getting on his last thread of patience in the past week anyway.

"Are you going to take your 'little brothers' with you as well?" asked Rufus delicately.

Rena, Sephiroth and Vincent were all properly horrified finding _those_ experiments. Out of the lot, only three were deemed "stable" enough that they might be able to survive on their own if allowed out of the labs.

Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo had attached themselves rather firmly to the twins... Serenity more than Sephiroth, for obvious reasons. As they had the appearance of thirteen year olds, despite being barely _three_ , Serenity had simplified matters by promptly designating all three as their "younger siblings"...before they were purged of any Jenova cells long before being allowed out of the labs.

It had taken three long days for that process to be completed, but in the end their bodies stabilized enough that they would now age normally. Rena made a point of showering the three with love and affection. Though it didn't help that there had been a minor complication that Yazoo was actually born a _female_ and forcibly put through hormone therapy by Hojo partially to see what would happen, but also because the other females in that 'experiment' were all rather vicious and a pain in the ass to handle without making them entirely useless.

Either way, Yazoo still considered herself one of the boys, and they never treated her differently.

Besides, if anyone knew the damage being raised in the labs caused (Sephiroth) and being treated as less than nothing while being exploited by the adults around you (Serenity), it was the twins.

Serenity made a face, but not for the reasons Rufus would expect.

"If I wanted them to be used against us and treated as though they were five despite having the ability to think for themselves by potential allies, I _would_ take them. Mrs. Weasley is going to be enough of a headache without introducing them to our little brothers," said Rena with a tired sigh. Then a wicked smirk. "Besides...this is the perfect time for them to bond with their 'Uncle Zack'."

Rufus...almost felt pity for Zack Fair. The triplets were bad enough when the twins were mildly unavailable due to work. Add in the paperwork for the Firsts _and_ those three and he was going to be in for a major headache.

"Or I could force them to deal with Aerith and Nanaki, with full approval to pin them down and give them a 'bath' if the cubs misbehave."

For some bizarre reason, Aerith and Nanaki happened to _like_ the trio. Nanaki in particular kept treating them as cubs for reasons known only to him.

"So long as I'm not required to care about it, I don't want to know," said Rufus flatly. "Just bring Sephiroth back... he's the only one who has any real insight to Hojo's thought process and the most efficient person I have on staff to keep a bunch of overpowered military-types under control."

Rena's lips twitched upward in amusement.

"And once again you remind me why I was more than happy to dispose of the 'issue' keeping you from being the President and making me disinclined to deal with you in the same manner," she replied.

Rufus didn't even bother to twitch. He was used to backhanded compliments like that from here that came with the subtle reminder of how he finally became President.

Having Serenity around was like having a viper watching your every move. You knew it was deadly and could kill you with a bite, but so long as you didn't do anything to piss it off or provoke it, it left you alone to do your own thing.

Rufus liked to think of Serenity Hewley as his own personal reminder to never get complacent. He found her attitude surprisingly refreshing and her way of looking at things interesting.

 _A few days later..._

"So how are we gonna find the general?" drawled Reno.

"We're going to take phoenix express," said Rena amused.

If Fawkes could travel between worlds, then it only stood to reason he might be able to transport them to Earth as well. If not...well she would deal with that issue if it came to that.

She sent out a mental summon, and held out her right arm for Fawkes to use.

It took longer than expected, and she had to blink when she felt a familiar bond slam into place.

"Think you can take us back to Earth to deal with the idiots?"

Fawkes looked at their group, before trilling and shaking his head.

"A pity. Have an idea _how_ we can get there?"

He pecked at her dominant hand, and she felt a nudge along the "hive collective" to summon her weapon.

"This?" she asked.

The phoenix trilled in acknowledgement. He 'lifted' her arm a bit, and she took the hint.

When it was level with her eyes, the phoenix let out a song she had never heard before, yet at the same time sounded hauntingly familiar.

The weapon glowed, before a beam of light slammed into the air before her, forming the shape of a door. An odd formation that looked like some sort of 'keyhole' appeared, and instinct told her to turn the blade like one would a key.

She heard the distinct sound of a 'click' in her mind...and a portal formed.

Everyone else stared in disbelief.

"Just when my day couldn't get any weirder," muttered Reno.

"Welcome to my life. I guarantee to at least buy you the strongest alcohol I can get my hands on with the agreement that any pranks you and the Weasley twins come up with far away from me," deadpanned Serenity.

"Twins?" perked up Reno, at the mention of pranks.

"True identical twins, unlike my brother and I. Also they're both male," she informed him. "I do, however know a pair of twin _girls_ roughly my age. You're on your own if you want to try your luck with them."

Reno grinned back.

Despite the oddity that was Serenity and her abilities, they went through the portal regardless.

After all, she had rather vested interest in retrieving her poor brother from the morons that made up the magical enclaves. Among other things.


	11. Chapter 11

Sephiroth's patience was sorely tested the longer he spent around these...wizards. It was now painfully obvious why Rena never ONCE spoke about returning to the world she was raised on and was happy to stay on Gaia.

These...people... and he was very hesitated to acknowledge them _that_ much when they were such sheep, apparently thought HE was his sister through some Herculean leap in logic because of the fact that when Rena was first summoned back, her appearance shifted back to what it should have been (along with her body being reconfigured into the ONLY _female_ SOLDIER on par with a First).

And the one who managed to figure out WHERE she might have went (who was her former best friend Hermione), apparently believed that his sister was him reincarnated, hence why they had summoned "Sephiroth" as opposed to "Serenity". And no one particularly believed him when he corrected their assumption and asked why they summoned him when his sister was the one who fought alongside them before.

What really pissed him off was the fact that Hermione had _admitted_ they had summoned Serenity's "past life" because it was more "humane" to drag someone they believed to be dead to deal with their problems than a teenage girl who had been surviving by the skin of her teeth all this time.

He didn't know what offended him more when he discovered that fact (Mrs. Weasley was less than pleased the twins had bluntly told him the truth why they summoned him and not Rena). The fact that they thought he would actually _save_ people he had never met and would obviously be less than properly grateful to their 'savior' while subtly fearing his power, or the fact that they would rather forget the girl who had already sacrificed far too much just because they never actually believed in her abilities in the first place.

So you could imagine his pure relief when he sensed Rena's presence nearby, along with several others in the 'hive collective' she had created by accident.

 _'Seph, when I give you the signal I want you to creep everyone out by saying in the most ominous voice you can these exact words. "She's here. She's come." By that point I plan to blow the door down and scare the living hell out of them before waltzing right in,'_ said Rena with dark glee.

Sephiroth had to fight the urge to smirk evilly, but he could tell the Weasley twins sensed _something_ was up by the way they were looking at him.

When she gave the signal, he made his eyes glow slightly and repeated what she told him. The terrifying low pitch and tone made them freak out for several split seconds before the door blasted open, revealing a less than amused Serenity and her group.

"Really Hermione, I expected better from a girl who was more terrified of expulsion at _eleven_ than death via a crabby three headed dog," drawled Rena.

The look on their faces was priceless (especially Granger's), and Sephiroth didn't hesitate to hug his twin.

"Thank the goddess. The sheer incompetence in this room was driving me insane, never mind the fact none of them know what a proper cup of coffee is," said Sephiroth emphatically.

"Seph, normal people do not drink coffee so high in caffeine content that it can literally kill you, _by the barrel_ ," said Rena rolling her eyes. "On that note, I brought plenty of beans with me."

Sephiroth looked at her like she was the goddess Minerva come down to deliver a holy relic.

"What... Serenity?" said Hermione in shock.

"In the flesh," she confirmed amused. "Though I am less than pleased you lot decided to kidnap my twin brother for some reason. I was quite happy making up for lost time in my original world before you lot decided to drag my last remaining family into _your_ problems."

"Your world?" said Hermione sputtering.

Rena looked right at Remus.

"Did Sirius and James not tell you? Or were you too busy trying to infiltrate the packs when they brought me into the family?"

Remus blinked, before he face palmed in embarassment.

"I honestly forgot about it. I never thought of you as anything but my cub," he admitted.

"Forgot about what?" demanded Molly.

"Serenity isn't James' daughter by blood. He adopted her shortly after he found her in a ritual circle when he and Sirius raided a Death Eater meeting. Since they did a few older rituals to add her into the family, the goblins accepted her claim as a Potter and a Black and no one knew the difference. Especially since she was named heir until Lily was able to bear James a child," said Remus.

Dead silence.

"She's _adopted_?" said Hermione in shock.

"It's an older custom to add muggleborns into the bloodline to 'keep it in the family'," replied Remus sheepishly. "At some point someone decided that only _actual_ blood members counted, so they quit doing it."

"When I was next to the archway in the Ministry, I was near the opening from where I was summoned as a newborn. Apparently I was close enough that I was able to reverse summon myself back to where I had been taken from," said Rena. "Now, would _someone_ mind explaining to me who's bright idea it was to summon my twin brother in my place?"

"Dumbledore is dead," said Hermione, still in shock over the knowledge her best friend was adopted.

"...And who do I have to thank for this?" asked Rena, eyebrows raised.

"Snape...and to a lesser extent Malfoy."

"So they both get three less kicks to the balls than I would have given them anyway. Good to know," said Rena dismissively. "Anyway since the general competence level of the average witch and wizard under Dumbledore's idiotic idea of warfare is only _slightly_ less embarassing than a lemming when faced with danger, I'm going to do the smart thing and run this solo with the group I brought with me and with anyone who actually wants to get shit done instead of pussy-footing around and only reporting the bad things and getting there too late to make an actual difference."

Dead silence.

"So... you're actually going to _do_ something about this war rather than wait and see?" asked Fred.

"Essentially, yes. And to hell with all this pacifist crap about only using non-lethals on the enemy. I fully plan to gut these bastard in the most _literal_ sense possible and make them remember me for generations if they live so I don't end up dragged back into dealing with _your_ problems every time some new idiot thinks they can play god. We have enough issues with that damn Hojo that I don't need the extra headache."

"You sound different, Rena," said George.

"You would too if you spent several years actually _living_ and then find out you had a twin brother AND a father still alive. Sephiroth had no idea I even existed until he kept hearing rumors about a female him walking around. On an unrelated note if Colin keeps stalking me he's going to have to learn how to dodge. I find it very amusing to use fan boys as target practice."

Angeal snickered at that.

"Aren't you the one who wiped the floor with my entire fan club because they objected to the fact I married you, rather than remain 'available' for them to admire?" he shot back.

Rena's smirk was pure evil.

"Oogling my husband is fine, but stalking him is something I take extreme objection to. The Silver Elite should be grateful the Keepers of Honor remain stupid enough to maintain my attention, because it means they have a chance to build their numbers up after I was done with them," said Rena.

"HUSBAND?" Hermione near shrieked.

Ron looked even _less_ happy hearing that, if that was possible. Rena didn't know why...it wasn't like that pig ever had a chance with her to begin with.

"Well Hermione, when two people love each other enough to put up with the other person's quirks and want to make it clear that they don't intend to leave even if a would child be born later..." started Rena, smirking.

"Shut up! I meant when did you get married? You're barely eighteen!" said Hermione blushing.

The Weasley twins, however, snickered.

"I've been married to Angeal for at least four months now? But I've known him for two years. He only got his head out of his ass and asked me out six months ago though. On an unrelated note, Fred, George, if you prank Genesis or Reno then you're on your own if they retaliate in kind."

The two red heads smirked and waved at the gingered haired twins.

"What kind of name is Angeal and Genesis?" said Ron snidely.

"What kind of name is Lucius or Nymphadora?" countered Rena, causing said woman to bristle with embarrassment at the reminder of her horrible first name.

"Wait...someone actually named their kid 'lucious'?" said Genesis snickering, with Reno trying very hard not to laugh.

"It's supposed to be 'Lucius'," said Rena, lips twitching.

"That's what I said, Lucious," said Genesis, causing Reno to cackle quietly.

"If you think _that's_ hilarious, his name is 'Remus Lupin', which if you look at it properly could easily translate to 'wolf wolf'...which is either highly ironic or his parents clearly never thought of the fact they were jinxing their own son into becoming a werewolf later," drawled Rena.

Remus flinched at that.

"Wait...werewolves are real?" said Reno, eyes wide.

Remus looked like he fully expected to be hated. Instead Sephiroth eyed him oddly.

"That...explains why I kept smelling wet Nibel Wolf fur from you," he said slowly. "So I take it those ridiculous legends about being infectious around the full moon are true as well?"

"Yes. I take a potion so I'm safe around others though," said Remus tiredly.

"Makes me wonder if it could be reversed with Esuna or if turning him into a toad briefly with a Touch Me might help to deal with the problem."

Genesis shuddered.

"You have entirely too much enjoyment using Touch Me's on people."

Rena suddenly smirked and looked positively evil.

"Fred, George _..._ have I got a spell focus you two are absolutely going to _love_ later..."

(The twins would later be seen holding their new Frog materia as if they were holy relics...especially once they figured out how to use them.)

Rena's return to the wizarding world was not met with fanfare. Far from it, in fact.

* * *

Oddly enough, the goblins sensed the odd "hive mind" that had been created and were rather "helpful" (read: smart enough not to piss off a witch who had the Herald of OMEGA walking beside her and calling her his daughter) in sorting out her accounts.

She was now the full head of the Potter and Black families, as the rituals still held despite finding her birth family. She had been legally and magically adopted into them, and the rings had accepted her despite not being born into them. She had also set up a new account, leaving only the minimum required deposit to keep the Ancestral vaults open and avoid the Ministry finding out she had closed them.

The new vaults were only accessible to those within the 'hive collective' as the goblins called it, and new keys were personally issues and blood bound. As a result the Ministry couldn't touch them even if the managed to 'seize' her assets. Without the keys the gold and everything else in the vaults would remain permanently out of their reach.

The next thing she did was procure a proper base. There was no way in _hell_ she would remain in Grimmauld, for several reasons. Not the least of which was the harpy that was Walburga and the fact that Kreacher was still there. And with the death of Dumbledore, it was simply too easily breached.

Besides, all it would take was one proper blast of fiendfyre and the entire block, townhouse included, would be destroyed along with anyone inside.

Fortunately as the new head of the Black family, she was able to gain entry into an actual _castle_ that was much easier to defend and already had wards installed. She just had them upgraded and the place fixed properly for habitation.

They might have to camp out for a month, but that was a small price to pay for a secured position they could work from.

The second thing she did was _stock_ said home with real food. After having to suffer one attempt at 'cooking' in the mess hall, she had decided to spend more money on ingredients than bother with restaurants.

It said a lot about her skills that the rest of the 'hive' opted to share their paychecks with her to cut down on food costs, and it was likely the only time she would be grateful to the Dursleys for teaching her how to cook enough food to feed twelve people when most of it would be going to Dudley and Vernon. The men certainly ate enough to make up for it, not that she didn't have her own healthy appetite.

(Rena was rather silent when she found out Vincent, Sephiroth, Genesis _and_ Angeal had all paid a quiet visit to the Dursleys...and left a smoking crater behind. According to the news none of them had gone quietly when the men were through with them. The fact they spent that night in an odd sort of cuddle pile making sure she knew how much they loved her, especially Angeal and Sephiroth, helped a lot.)

There was one thing that bugged the hell out of her though.

Namely why she kept feeling nauseous every time someone opened a bottle of alcohol around her. Reno had gleefully dove into the large collection of wine bottles that had been left behind by the previous owner of the castle, and every time he brought something new out she felt slightly dizzy.

* * *

 _Vincent POV_

 _'When should we alert the others that she might be pregnant?_ ' Vincent inquired.

 _ **Soon. Let's settle in properly first before we drop that possible bombshell and enjoy the anarchy that comes as a result. You just know the little dragon will turn into a brooding mother hen around her if it's true.**_

Vincent snorted. Chaos had taken to calling Sephiroth "dragon" ever since he first set eyes on his son. Oddly enough, he called Rena "little goddess" for reasons he never fully explained, and Angeal "paladin". Genesis was "little mage", while Zack was (hilariously enough) "Puppy".

Everyone else was promptly designated minion according to Chaos, though the Herald of Omega was beyond amused that the "little goddess" was effectively usurping all the minions Jenova had access to and was helping to cleanse the Lifestream (however unintentionally) with the "anti-virus" that they had created with her blood.

The second Rufus found out that the "fossil" Hojo was so obsessed with could control the SOLDIERs, including someone as strong as Sephiroth, he had made the odd injections _mandatory_. He could care less about the hive mind aspect...he just didn't want his super-powered military to suddenly come under the control of an alien parasite and then used against him.

Rena had spoken with Sephiroth and the others about it. At some point, there would be a president after this who would view SOLDIERs as "too overpowered/dangerous" to keep and the public would turn on them. With the knowledge there were other inhabitable worlds out there (and the fact she refused to unleash super soldiers on Earth for very good reason) Rena fully intended to quietly look up a new place for them to live out their lives once the dust settled and Jenova was dealt with permanently. The sooner they could relocate to a planet who had never heard of them, the safer they would all be.

Even Zack agreed he would rather live on another world where no one had heard of SOLDIER or Shin-Ra if he had the chance. There was such a disconnect with the men and their normal family members that it was quite honestly the only feasible option once the main threats were dealt with.

Besides, once Jenova was dealt with, it would be almost impossible to get people past Second anyway. And that wasn't getting into the fact that most of the men were bored to tears with the 'same old, same old' when it came to missions.

They would still visit though, if it was an option.


	12. Chapter 12

In the wake of Serenity's return, the 'war' against Voldemort became decidedly one-sided... in their favor.

Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal put their previous experience in Wutai and acting as the three generals of SOLDIER to good use, and were able to allocate their resources and manpower to do the most damage to the idiots who were causing all the trouble. More importantly they already had an established chain of command, with Rena only interceding if she had insight that could help them.

She was not a general, though she had the instincts for it. This was hardly the best time to fine-tune her natural inclination to lead when they all just wanted this to be over and done with and go home as quickly as possible.

Vincent, Reno and Rude were able to infiltrate several key areas for vital information that would have otherwise taken days to obtain otherwise.

Sending them in to handle the Ministry was only sensible, and it hadn't taken much to prep them for what they were doing. Creative use of materia, which had them registering as 'magical' while at the same time was impossible to detect by Ministry standards made it pathetically easy to get in and out.

The fact Rena could honestly care less if the Turks left behind all sorts of "delightful" surprises to reign havoc on the Ministry when this was over and they left was just bonus... Reno and Genesis could be seen conspiring with the twins to create maximum damage, and it was likely the Ministry would be left in shambles when this was over.

She felt distinctly pleased that the unofficial war that had gone on for the past _two years_ since she disappeared was forcibly ended by her group in less than five months.

It sickened her that the wizards incompetence and general attitude had allowed things to escalate this far, but she recognized most of that was the fault of Albus Dumbledore and his thrice-damned insistence on _saving_ people who didn't deserve it. Honestly there would have been far fewer casualties if he had gotten off his ass and actually challenged Voldemort with equal force.

It would have been fast and brutal, but the overall death toll of those who weren't involved directly would have been _considerably_ lower than it was when she returned.

Between the combined efforts of the group, with help from the DA and those who had the balls to actually act with lethal force and very little hesitation to use it on those who would hurt the innocent (however ineffective their training was), the war ended in very short order.

Sure, Rena made a point to _personally_ murder Voldemort in as brutal and graphic a method as she could devise in such a limited time frame...but the point was that she gave the wizards a very good reason not to drag her back into their problems unless they wanted her to return with her newly discovered family and make them regret it.

Considering the example she made of Voldemort, and the fact that she started throwing fireballs at anyone who even _remotely_ attempted to act like any number of idiots she had to deal with courtesy of the fan clubs, she had some hope they would leave her be.

It was a major relief when they were finally able to return home... with a few extras, of course.

(Rena found it mildly amusing the sheer fascination Luna had with her twin brother, and hoped it sparked something between them.)

* * *

 _Back on Gaia, six months later..._

"So let me get this straight... we were gone for a few months, and during that time Cloud suddenly reappeared with all the abilities of a First and acting like a complete zombie?" said Rena in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was really weird. I mean he attacked the company without any warning at all and tried to kill Rufus, except he wasn't in at the time. He didn't even _recognize_ me, for Minerva's sake!" said Zack. "Worse, I could smell the mako on him... he only part of the Infantry when we went to Nibelhiem, but the amount I caught off him was closer to what I would get from _Sephiroth_!"

Rena frowned.

"It sounds to me that Hojo decided to use Cloud as a replacement for Sephiroth," said Rena.

"Yeah, but why Cloud?"

"Lack of options? I mean he _was_ born in proximity to that parasite and in the same town as us, so maybe he has a special resonance or something to mako or Jenova's cells," said Rena. "With us gutting everything he would have access too and going after his 'hidden' accounts, it's not like he has much to work with unless he wants us coming after his ass."

Zack was beyond upset... if Cloud really was under Hojo's control, it wouldn't take much to make him public enemy number one.

At least he hadn't set anything on fire or burned down any towns yet...and why was _that_ the first thing that came to mind when he thought of Cloud's situation? Very strange.

"So what's Rufus going to do about this?"

"Officially, an unknown assassin tried to attack him and took out a good chunk of the SOLDIER's on base. Unofficially he's pissed as hell and will likely go after Cloud now."

"And the fact Cloud might be able to tell us what the hell Hojo is planning?"

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," said Zack depressed. "From the sound of what I overheard the Turks saying, they're fully prepared to classify Cloud as 'expendable' if they run into him. At most we might be able to argue that he would have information as a reason not to kill him on sight..."

Rena winced. That...did not sound good.

"Look at the bright side...if we can get our hands on him long enough, we should be able to purge the Jenova cells Hojo has almost certainly injected him with."

They still weren't certain _why_ the J-Cells reacted badly to Rena's blood, just that it was the most effective way to safely purge them from the body.

Sephiroth was _not_ happy.

Apparently in lieu of his 'perfect experiment' Hojo had decided to use Zack's friend as _his_ replacement.

It bothered him greatly that Hojo had essentially turned Cloud Strife into a First without bothering to give him much time to recover.

However as terrible as that was, it was not the source of why he was vexed with his twin sister or why certain people now had trouble looking in his direction without having to muffle laughter of some sort.

Especially Zack and Genesis, who found the situation rather hysterical.

What had him rather irate towards his own twin?

The answer was simple.

Rena had decided to utilize the rabid fan clubs of certain SOLDIERs (and a lesser known one for specific Turks, such as Reno and Tseng, oddly enough) to find Cloud and Hojo. The reason _Sephiroth_ was irate with her was because she tricked him into signing something when he was beyond exhausted doing paperwork and was now using them as incentive for his rabid fans to send in actual sightings of the two.

She had even gotten the head of Urban Development into the scheme, Goddess knew _how._ He found it highly suspicious that Reeve's once paltry department was now being funded by an outside source that was paying for several projects that had stalled because of "budget issues".

Despite heavily down-sizing the science department to something far more reasonable, Tuesti's own was still vastly underpaid because no one considered it "important" enough.

Rufus had taken to auditing the ENTIRE company with extreme ruthlessness upon learning how much Hojo had actually been siphoning off of it with his father's unspoken approval. Certain departments had managed to come out of it mostly unscathed save for a few areas... Such as SOLDIER, Urban Development and the Turks, but the rest of the company suddenly got a massive wake-up call that half-assing expense reports or subtly stealing money from their department wasn't going to be ignored anymore.

On an unrelated note, Rena had gained a life-long supporter in the form of one Cid Highwind because the sudden budget adjustment had finally freed up enough money to revamp the Space division.

After learning other _inhabitable_ worlds did in fact exist, Rufus developed a strong interest in going there without having to rely on dubious and rather headache inducing forms of magic. Besides, Jenova had to have come from _somewhere_ and they would rather avoid any more "surprises" from beyond their limited access of space showing up.

One alien parasite was enough, thank you very much.

Sephiroth did not know where Rena got strands of his hair, or those topless pictures of him that she tricked him into signing. He was highly peeved that she was bribing his fans into doing most of the dirty work in searching for Cloud and Hojo, because it was only encouraging them now that Rena had stopped using them for target practice.

Apparently she had decided upon a "temporary ceasefire" between her and those damn fan clubs.

He had never been more thankful that the blood transfusion also came with the ability to use Rena's brand of magic. It took him all of a week before he had mastered the Notice-me-not charms and everything else that Rena had originally put on that bracelet she gave the three generals. Being able to walk around like a _normal_ person was a goddess-sent gift, especially since Rena's plan to find Cloud and Hojo only made his 'Fans' that much more rabid than normal.

Angeal was lucky...upon learning _who_ he had married and that he was firmly off the market...his particular fan club had wisely backed the hell off for fear of running into his less-than-pleased wife, who had already demonstrated a preference for setting such people on fire for even small provocations. The only ones safe from her attempts to 'discipline' said fans were anyone under the age of fourteen.

After all, fourteen was the _minimum_ requirement to join the Company, which meant society as a whole had deemed them old enough to be considered "adults". At least enough to put their live and limb on the line for a company that was all too happy to throw teenagers into actual warfare.

Sephiroth rather hated Rena's former headmaster. The only real difference between his situation in Wutai and the so called "Blood War" of her former world was the fact that he, at least, had known _exactly_ how to defend himself and that he would be expected to fight others once he could reasonably do so without getting killed in the process.

Whereas _Dumbledore_ had tried to shield his sister from the reality of what was going on while snowing her under with false expectations, next to no information and the fact he blatantly ignored she was being abused by people she had been told were her blood kin.

By the time war came upon her, she was almost completely unprepared and only survived by sheer dumb luck and through the skin of her teeth.

They might never known _what_ caused her to be summoned back to this world, but Sephiroth was thanking every god and goddess that it happened. He dreaded to think of what would have happened to his twin otherwise, under such half-assed and unrealistic leadership.

* * *

 _Third POV_

Reeve Tuesti was many things, but an idiot certainly wasn't one of them. When Rena Hewley (formerly Valentine) cornered him one morning after their return from wherever Sephiroth had gotten dragged too, he had wisely kept his mouth shut and stayed in view of everyone else in case Commander Hewley took it the wrong way.

Which wasn't likely, but Shin-Ra politics made him rather paranoid.

He was expecting a lot of things.

He had not expected Rena Hewley to give him a solution to the massive and still ongoing audit, or a way to fund his many, many ideas to improve Midgar without getting a visit from the Turks in the process.

All in exchange for putting his Cait Sith dolls in the _direct_ line of fire when it came to the rabid fan clubs such as the Silver Elite.

One might think having his Caits handing out "special prizes" to people who sent in verified information about Cloud or Hojo was hardly as harrowing as sending them in after, say, a pissed off Behemoth.

They would be wrong. Anyone who had been around Midgar long enough or at least _seen_ the Silver Elite in close range of their obsession knew the unavoidable truth.

Fan clubs were the epitome of evil and it said far too much of Rena's self-preservation instincts that she was willing to _fuel_ their obsession over Sephiroth with actual signed photographs and strand of hair in exchange for information.

If he didn't know for a fact that Rena found Cait Sith cute and treated them the same as any other human being, despite being a robot with an unusual personality, he would think she was trying to kill the poor thing.

Did not stop him from shuddering every time Cait Sith sent in a video of the Silver Elite coming to claim their reward for information. Thank the goddess _he_ never developed any fan clubs.

"I am having _the_ weirdest sensation of deja-vu, brother of mine," said Fred.

"Agreed. Isn't this playing out almost _exactly_ like the storyline of the game Hermione insisted our dear leader was from?" asked George.

"Last I checked it was Sephiroth who went off the deep end, not Cloud," commented Fred.

"Care to explain that comment?" asked a dry, and highly unamused voice.

The twins turned to find Sephiroth behind them. He was not pleased.

"Uh..."

"Ask Luna?" said George.

"Explain. Now."

"We don't know much," said Fred quickly, because Sephiroth could be damn scary.

"Just that Hermione said you were the main villain in some muggle game, which is how she knew about you," said George.

"Mostly because her younger sister was watching a movie that was based off it," said Fred.

"Also, that you're one of the most popular and bad ass villain characters ever created," they finished in unison.

Sephiroth was not an idiot. If there were parallels between this...game...and what they were dealing with now then it only made sense to have his sister go and find out as much information as she possibly could to curtail whatever it was Hojo had planned.

Rena... could only thank every god she knew of that the 'Internet' was such a big deal and that the game in question was old enough to have spawned an untold number of sequels and even a movie to the point that she could just print off the basic summary.

Even if certain facts were altered to the point they were hilariously wrong (such as the fact Sephiroth hadn't gone off the deep end when confronted with Jenova, and that Cloud had apparently taken his place as the main villain thanks to Hojo's meddling) most of what she printed off was more or less correct.

On an unrelated note, it also lead to them accidentally finding a _mostly_ alive Lucrecia.

Vincent wasn't entirely certain how to feel about the fact that a game based off of fiction (and likely an alternate world where Rena was never born) gave them valuable information.

Even if they still had no idea how the hell they were supposed to get her out of the mako crystal. Serenity had very little feelings towards her mother, considering the woman had _openly_ allowed the likes of Hojo to experiment on her unborn children in the womb "for science".

Anyone who cared that little about their own child, long before it was even born, didn't deserve saving.

Sephiroth was torn, but considering Rena's adopted mother had sacrificed her own life for a child that wasn't even her own blood, reluctantly agreed with his sister. He might have felt some empathy for his birth mother if it wasn't for the fact he had read _exactly_ what Hojo had injected into her womb when they were still developing in order to achieve his perfect specimen.


	13. Chapter 13

**As a special birthday pres from me to you, two stories are getting elevated to full ones from the drabbles!**

* * *

Rena had been feeling off for a month now, at least to the point she had to take notice.

Which was why she went to check in with one of the few non-evil doctors on Shin-Ra's payroll.

Needless to say she was in for a shock.

"I'm pregnant?!"

"According to this, you _should_ be four months along at the very least. However the fetus looks closer to two months along," said Dr. Ravena.

"...I guess the suspicion we had that mako or whatever the hell Jenova is slows the maturation process of infants in the womb has just been confirmed," said Rena.

"That would explain why the rates for SOLDIERs attempting to start families is so low," said Dr. Ravena.

"Ah, actually I think the problem for them is that normal women can't really handle the child growing in them, which raises the chances of miscarriage or the child accidentally killing the mother," said Rena. "And since Hojo refused to adjust the formula to allow for female SOLDIER's, the odds of finding a woman capable of bearing the child to term drop significantly. Never mind the actual process of giving birth."

"In any case you'll need to be extra careful until the little one comes out."

"Any idea what the gender is?" asked Rena.

"Too soon to tell. At most the machine confirms there's a fetus in you, but not the actual gender."

"I guess I'll have to rely on less scientific methods then," said Rena.

There were potions to determine pregnancy and if you were so inclined, what the gender was before machines could pick it up. It was just going to be a pain to brew it considering how sensitive her nose was.

Actually, there was _one_ other person who had enough magic to brew the potion that she could trust that was skilled with herbal remedies.

Now, to get the ingredients and see if she would be interested in helping out.

 _A few days later..._

"Any idea what Aerith and Rena have been up to lately?" asked Genesis

"No idea," said Zack. "All I know is I can't go two feet near their little room without my nose almost murdering me."

"...I may have an idea, but I want to capture the perfect blackmail once she announces it," said Vincent.

"Blackmail?" repeated the other two.

Vincent kept his silence...though inwardly Chaos was cackling and already crowing about future grandchildren to spoil.

He had been the first to notice the fact Rena was pregnant long before the other signs started showing.

By the end of the week, Rena gathered everyone together.

Vincent brought a camera and told Reeve to record _everything_.

"I'm pregnant," she announced.

Angeal blinked a few times before the words fully registered, then he gaped.

"You're what?"

"Pregnant. At least four months along, though according to the x-ray the baby seems to be developing rather slowly."

"So the theory you had about the Jenova cells or possibly the mako prolonging the gestation period of pregnant women is correct," said Vincent.

"I suspect it might be the mako, honestly. Considering the difficulties of normal SOLDIER's having children after they become Thirds, it would fit in neatly with the other health risks. And that issue only goes up the more mako is present in the bloodstream of the male."

Angeal paled.

"You are a near copy of Sephiroth, who is a First, never mind what would be present in my blood," said Angeal.

"Yes, but you're forgetting one key fact. I wasn't raised on Gaia and I have natural magic not reliant on materia. Magic instinctively protects children, so the odds of something bad happening to the infant drop significantly. It takes a lot of power to curse a pregnant witch because our magic automatically becomes a shield around us...at least until the child itself is born, because then we become vulnerable."

"Can we get back to the fact you're pregnant?!" said Genesis.

"What's the gender?" asked Zack eagerly.

"She just said that the baby is forming slower than normal, idiot. There's no way she could tell you what the gender is this early," said Genesis.

"It's a boy," said Rena, almost smugly.

Dead silence.

"...Is this what you and Aerith were doing in that room?" asked Zack.

"Potion fumes can cause side effects, especially in witches who are expecting. It's one of the few things that can get past the natural barriers created by our magic. I acted as adviser while Aerith did the actual brewing to find out what the gender was. The proteins present in the baby differ between genders and the potion changes color depending on which ones are in the mother's bloodstream."

"Why are you recording this? More to the point _how_ did you know this was going to happen?" demanded Genesis to Vincent.

"Chaos sensed the fact she had life growing in her a month before we came back from Earth. The fact she looked nauseous every time Reno hit her family's alcohol collection only confirmed it," said Vincent. "I was just waiting for her to figure it out herself."

"So who's the godfather?" asked Sephiroth.

"Zack," said Rena immediately. "Not like it really matters considering he'll have plenty of overprotective...and overpowered... uncles and the odd aunt to keep him safe."

Sephiroth smirked at that.

Angeal...was still in shock that his wife was having a son. _His_ son.

"What are you going to name him?" asked Zack.

"I was thinking Gabriel, possibly as a middle name. I've always liked stories about angels and he was my favorite," said Rena. "Naturally his last name will be Hewley."

It was rather hilarious to see Zack and the others get all excited about a baby, when Genesis normally couldn't tolerate small children. Then again, her son would be family so that likely made a lot of difference.

 _Later that night..._

"Is it really that shocking that I'm pregnant? We _have_ been going at it like bunnies after all," said Rena.

"I just never thought I would have a wife, much less children," said Angeal, wrapping his arms around her.

He was overjoyed...and more than a little anxious at the knowledge his Rena was having their son.

"...Five thousand gil says that the SOLDIERs go baby-crazy the second they find out that one of the Three Generals is about to have a son."

"...That's a sucker's bet and you know it. Especially since the child will also be related to Sephiroth," said Angeal flatly.

Rena snickered.

"About the name..." started Angeal.

"I'm fine with Gabriel being the middle name, if you had something else in mind for the first," said Rena.

"Riku. It was my grandfather's name."

"Riku Gabriel Hewley. I like it. Though I really want to see the look on Zack's face when he finds out what we discovered by accident after the potion was done."

"...Do I want to know?"

"Do you want blackmail on the puppy?"

"I'll bring a camera. Now what did you find out?"

"Aerith's having a son as well, but she's not as far along as I am. Though we'll at least confirm it's the mako slowly their development down if she takes as long as I did."

(On an unrelated note, Zack fainted when Aerith told him the news. Angeal and Genesis were quick to get blackmail, having been forewarned ahead of time.)

* * *

"...What the hell happened here?" asked Sephiroth mildly.

"I would like to know that myself," said Tseng.

"I don't know, I find this mildly amusing and a hilarious way to spread some good PR," said Rufus, trying not to laugh.

"We can explain!" said Kunsel.

"Please, I'm all ears when it comes to learning what exactly happened to the training room," said Sephiroth mildly.

"Don't look at me! It was his idea!" said Reno pointing at Kunsel.

"We're waiting for an explanation," said Tseng.

"It's supposed to be a baby shower. For Commander Hewley and Zack," said Kunsel. "But _someone_ went and bought the wrong supplies."

"How the hell was I supposed to know they were both having boys?" demanded Reno.

"And this explains the explosion of pink and blue confetti all over the room and the fact you two are tangled up in what appears to be streamers?" said Rufus.

"What are you doing?" Reno asked Tseng.

"Sending out a text."

"Good idea," said Rufus, taking out his PHS as well to take pictures.

"Wait, what?!" said Reno horrified, as Kunsel tried to free himself from the mess.

"I concur. We should get more people here to help...plan...the party if we want to do it right," said Sephiroth, also sending out a text.

(Kunsel and Reno did not make it out of the streamers before several people got a good look at the mess and the fact they both had _glitter_ in their hair. Reno would never track down the pictures taken, to his dismay.)

Though Zack was sweating bullets _big time_ at the look on Elmyra's face when she found out that the SOLDIER had gotten her daughter pregnant.

The only reason Zack didn't end up in major trouble was because he had already bought the ring and had been waiting for the best time to propose to Aerith.

* * *

Rena did not want Hojo to come _anywhere_ near her or her unborn child. And she refused to risk Aerith.

Considering the rather worrying 'coincidences' between this _Final Fantasy VII_ series and what was happening on Gaia, Rena decided to test a hunch that maybe they weren't coincidences at all.

To that end, she sent SOLDIERs with Turks to investigate all the reactors. More to the point, she sent Sephiroth and the others to the Northern Crater.

(She wouldn't admit her shock when the tactic actually worked...they managed to capture Cloud in Wutai of all places.)

Cloud looked...different. He was taller, more filled out and it was clear he had the same mako saturation as the Firsts. Or, considering who had captured him, Sephiroth and Rena.

His eyes were wild, almost cat-like and he was _not_ happy at being under the full-body bind. Unlike normal restraints, his enhanced strength couldn't break out of the spell.

"Cloud, if you can hear me... I'm sorry we took so long to find you."

Rena looked Cloud in the eye...as she pushed the plunger containing the 'anti-cells' as the Science department had taken to calling it.

Cloud, if he was capable, would have started struggling the moment the transfusion hit his bloodstream.

Jenova was _not_ happy with the fact that Rena was taking yet another 'host' from her.

Cloud was going to be in for a very miserable time.

 _With Sephiroth and the others..._

"We are never telling Rena we found that thing here," said Genesis flatly.

"She's going to figure it out anyway," said Angeal.

"But what are the odds that the freaking _game_ that we found on Earth would tell us exactly where that creep Hojo was this whole time?!" ranted Genesis.

"Considering it helped us to capture this idiot, I'm not going to question it," said Sephiroth flatly. "Now what do we do with _that_?"

'That', being Jenova.

"...Anyone else in the mood to set it on fire?" asked Genesis hopefully.

Sephiroth looked at Angeal. Angeal looked at him and then at Genesis.

"...On the count of three we cast the strongest Fiendfyre spell we can at the thing," said Sephiroth.

The look of glee on Genesis' face would have terrified anyone else.

Instead he got equally anticipatory looks from the other two. Jenova had made their lives hell, whether directly or indirectly via the scientists. It was a virus that needed to be purged from the Planet.

Genesis would not admit to evil cackling when the spell hit...or that they had to haul ass out of the lab to the surface when the spell lost control and started to devour everything in it's path.

"How are we supposed to stop it?!" shouted Angeal.

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!" shouted Genesis.

They were lucky Aerith was a Cetra...because the blessed rain she sent their way quenched the flames and saved them from their own inexperience with Earth magic.

It also cleansed the smoke and the ashes left from Jenova being burnt to a crisp.

"...We say nothing," said Genesis.

"Agreed," said Sephiroth. He was not about to admit that they lost control of a spell they picked up from the Black family library.

Rena took one look at the trio and the dead corpse of Hojo...and gave them a Look.

"Next time you want to play around with a dark spell, try to remember that it takes years of experience to actually keep _control_ of it. If Aerith hadn't been keeping watch over you when we heard you were at the Northern Crater, you three would be very, very dead," said Rena flatly.

All three men looked very sheepish.

"That being said...welcome home."


End file.
